


Playing With Fire

by GreenLight56



Category: Winx Club
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:53:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 28
Words: 168,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25952476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenLight56/pseuds/GreenLight56
Summary: Just as a shadow, quiet, dark and dangerous, he was always there, somewhere in the back of her mind, during the day and night as well, in her daydreams and in her nightmares. His voice was a sound that was chasing away all her sanity, and yet she willingly embraced the madness, the memories of his touch were a sweet torment, like delight mixed with guilt and shame, and the feeling of his lips on hers in her imagination was her worst guilty pleasure.Roxy knew that Ogron was a villain, cruel, manipulative, selfish, twisted, with nothing even slightly good inside him. And what was more, he wanted to take her magic, her wings and possibly her life as well. And in spite of all that, she couldn’t help herself when she was around him, somehow she has always became a helpless, vulnerable prey and forgot the concern about her safety completely, letting his hands hold her, his fingers caress her face, his lips kiss hers, without fighting back at least a little bit. The danger of his presence, so obvious, so vivid and torturously exciting, made everything about their strange relationship so much more desirable.
Relationships: Duman/OC, Roxy/Ogron
Comments: 148
Kudos: 106





	1. Trapped Animal

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! This is my first Winx Club story that I decided to write, I know I've chosen a little bit unusual ship (Roxy/Ogron) that many people don't even like, but it's my OTP (pls don't hate, lol) and as far as I know there aren't many stories with it, which I think is a shame. Anyway, just a note that Roxy is actually eighteen in this story, since sixteen really doesn't seem very appropriate to me.
> 
> I'm not a native speaker of English, so I apologize for my mistakes beforehand, I'll try to write this the best I can, but it's possible my writing won't sound natural in many places, so I'm sorry :( 
> 
> Also, please leave me some comments if you like my story, I'd really love to know what do you think about it :)

Roxy woke up to the indifferent sound of some human voices and the sharp pain she felt in her rib cage, making her involuntarily gasp from the sudden discomfort. What happened? Where was she? She desperately tried to remember what was the last thing that had happened to her, even though it wasn’t easy, since she wasn’t quite awake yet.

,,You think she’s finally awake?” she heard a male voice she only recognized now. Gantlos. If she still had some faint hope that she might not be in trouble, it was all gone the moment she heard the wizard speak.

,,Let’s have a look,” she recognized Duman’s dark, yet still slightly boyish voice, followed by a subtle evil chuckle.

She tried her best to give an impression that she was sleeping but the pain, which only seemed to get worse and worse each second, really didn’t make any easier for her.

As she heard the footsteps approaching her, her heart began to beat harder and the adrenaline woke her up completely. That’s when she realized that her wrists were bound behind her back by chains, as well as her ankles, both of which, same as her hands, were attached to the wall.  
Suddenly she felt a pair of strong hands grabbing her shoulders, lifting her up and roughly shaking her whole tiny frame.

,,Get up finally, you annoying little fairy, we are just fed up with babysitting you in this dump,” Gantlos growled and violently shook her body again, making the chains rattle loudly. Roxy gathered all of her strength she had left not to scream from the pain, not to even wince, since if she showed that she was awake, things could get ugly for her quite soon. She had to get out of here, but how? Breaking out of the chains shouldn’t be a problem with her magic, but taking on Gantlos and Duman together would be just impossible even if she was in her top form, which she quite apparently wasn’t. 

,,Oh, stop it, Gantlos, can’t you see you are hurting our guest of honor?” Duman laughed mockingly.

,,Yeah, sure, she isn’t even awake,” Gantlos rolled his eyes and threw her back on the ground. Roxy had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from screaming, since the impact on her ribcage at that moment caused her the probably worst pain she ever experienced.

,,You know, Gantlos, even if you are older than me, you shouldn’t think that you always know everything better. I know she is awake. I smell her fear,” Duman said and Roxy could already imagine the evil smirk he had on his face. He kneeled down beside her and turned her head towards him.

,,Stop playing around with us, little fairy, you can’t fool my animal senses. You had your fun but now it’s our turn,” he laughed sadistically. It was pointless to continue pretending, so she opened her eyes, determined to show no fear as she stared back defiantly into Duman’s golden ones surrounded in a smoke of dark purple eyeshadow.

,,Here you go, much better,” he smiled, showing his horrifyingly sharp teeth, which truly made him look like a hungry animal ready to devour it’s prey. Which, in this case, would be her magic and her wings, she supposed.

,,Gantlos, go get Ogron and Anagan. We’ll have a little chat ‘till you come back.”

 _,,This might be the best chance I’ll get to escape,”_ Roxy thought as Gantlos left the dark room and closed the heavy wooden door behind him. Now it was only her and Duman, who still was considerably stronger and more experienced in magic than her, but still it was way better than facing all the wizards together, which would leave her with literally no chance of saving herself. She had to come up with something. But first of all, she couldn’t let Duman see how scared to death she truly was. So she sat up from her lying position and looked him straight in the eyes again, saying nothing.

,,Oh, you fairies are actually quite funny, you know? This is exactly the expression of a defeated fairy, thinking she can save herself by staring us down with that deadly look in the eyes,” he chuckled and came closer to her. She instinctively wanted to pull away but then an idea struck her. She didn’t know whether it will work, though she had to try at least something. 

,,I know you have beautiful wings, Roxy, perhaps you wouldn’t mind showing them to me,” he said and turned himself into a big black dog with golden eyes. She haven’t even had a chance to react, since he quickly got behind her back and used his long claws to rip the back of her T-shirt in the place, where she would have her wings if she transformed. 

,,Leave me alone!” she screamed and tried to pull away instantly, but she was already held by his strong hand, again in its human form, tightly around her waist, while his other hand rested on the skin of her back. 

_,,For goodness sake, with this man’s insanely quick reflexes I’ll never be able to do anything,”_ she thought in panic.

,,Well, but since I figured out that you wouldn’t be very willing, I’ll help you a little bit.”  
As he said it, she suddenly felt a strong wave of magic coming from his hand and hitting her in the back.

,,Stop it!” she screamed in pain, that was now not only caused by the probably few broken ribs but also by his spell, which felt like it was forcefully making her transform into her fairy form.  
She had no time to lose, although she was in pain she had to focus, so she unexpectedly hit him with all her force in his stomach with her elbow, making him gasp from the shock and pain and also making his spell stop.

,,Why, you little...,” he growled and turned himself into a giant wolf, immediately jumping at her and knocking her down on the floor. Now was the good time to finally get rid of those annoying chains. Roxy tried to use all of her magic to free herself from them and also to hit the terrifying wolf above her, but just as she gathered all of her strength, she suddenly heard that someone entered the room.

,,I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” a familiar voice said in a slightly mocking tone.

She turned her head and stared into the icy blue eyes of a tall wizard with red wavy hair falling down on his broad shoulders.

,,I won’t go down without a fight, Ogron,” she growled angrily. 

,,Calm down, I’m just giving you a friendly advice,” he continued with his teasing tone, ,,you don’t think that we would be stupid enough to bind you with some regular chains, do you? Those are, of course, magical chains, designed to tighten more and more if anyone tries to get out of them by using spells, which is great for annoying little fairies like you.”

 _,,Great,”_ Roxy thought, _,,now I’m really running out of all the ideas. If I could at least find a way to call the Winx for help...”_

,,Let her go, Duman, you know that’s not what she’s here for,” Ogron waved his hand dismissively. After hearing that, Duman turned back to his human body and stepped a few steps back. 

Roxy’s heart was beating faster and faster with fear as Ogron was slowly approaching her and finally squatted down to meet her eye level. She refused to look at him as she knew she wouldn’t be able to hide her fear, like she did with Duman. Ogron was the strongest of them all, his dark magic brought chaos and destruction in the most horrible ways, his cruel soul knew no mercy and he would do anything to achieve his evil goals. He was a real monster and just his presence alone made her feel like a trapped animal with no way of escaping from its horrid cage.

,,You can’t imagine how much I love the scent of a fairy scared to death,” Duman smirked, leaning against one of the tall stone pillars in the room.

,,Don’t be afraid Roxy, we won’t hurt you as long as you do as we say,” Ogron smiled using that fake nice behavior of his that she was already familiar with.

,,What do you want?” she asked, ,,but don’t you expect that whatever it is, I will give it to you.”

,,We’ll se about that. You see, Roxy, since you and your little annoying friends woke up the White Circle after so many years, we’ve had a couple of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to find it and make it fall into our hands, and as you know, we were searching for it everywhere, but without any success. So, not to make this any longer than necessary, tell us where it is and we will let you live. Even with your wings and your magic intact. You have my word.”

,,Even if your word meant anything, do you really think I’m _stupid enough_ to give you our strongest weapon on a silver platter?” she spitefully repeated his own words after him.

,,I don’t have time for this, little fairy, tell us now or you’ll regret it,” he said still calmly in spite of his threatening words, lifted his hand and grabbed her chin to make her look at him. She pulled away aggressively but that only made his grip stronger.

,,Let me go, you snake, or _you’ll_ be the one who will regret,” she spat her words angrily.

,,Oh, look at her, she is a fighter,” Anagan chuckled from the background.

She wanted to say something but suddenly she forgot what. Ogron’s piercing icy light blue eyes got her attention completely after just a few seconds of looking into them and she just wasn’t able to focus on anything else. They were the only thing in the world. A wave of such calming and comforting feeling washed over her as she was looking into them, it was like falling asleep in a soft bed after a very tiring long day. Or like lying in the grass on a meadow after a strong rain. Then she suddenly didn’t even see the eyes anymore, it was just vast obscure darkness surrounding her... but it was so good. She just wanted to stay like this, she didn’t care about anything anymore... she even forgot where was she and what was going on.

,,No... this is wrong!” a little voice inside her was telling her.

,,Maybe...,” she responded to it internally, ,,but I’m just so tired... let me rest.”

,,Fight it, Roxy!” the voice said and she faintly started to realize that it wasn’t her voice and she wasn’t just talking to herself. 

Whoever was speaking to her in her mind helped her regain her attention enough to be aware of her surroundings again. The dark room, the wizards, Ogron’s eyes... it all fell into place.


	2. Agony and Salvation

,,You’ll have to try harder than this!” she screamed into his face as she finally freed herself from the strong grip of his hand holding her jaw and even stronger and more dangerous trap of his eyes.

,,You... you resisted my hypnosis...,” he said as he stood up and didn’t even try to hide the apparent surprise in his voice. 

,,You are being way too nice to her, Ogron, let’s just make her speak by using some more effective methods,” Gantlos rolled his eyes.

,,Are you saying my spells aren’t effective?” Ogron snapped at him.

,,No... of course not but apparently somehow they didn’t work on her. I suggest we deal with her like we did with the Earth fairies back in the day when they didn’t want to cooperate. Fairies are weak, they give up easily after a little pain,” Gantlos replied impatiently.

An evil smirk spread across Ogron’s face and his cold eyes ran along Roxy’s tiny frame. 

,,Well... you do sometimes have a few good ideas, Gantlos... this one indeed looks like a little spell would be enough to persuade her... and I might also use having a little fun.”

He squatted down to her again and shook his head slightly, still smirking: ,,What a shame would it be though to hurt such a beautiful young fairy,” he said and before Roxy could react, he caressed her cheek in an almost gentle manner. That left her quite taken aback for a second and somewhere in the back of her mind she realized that the touch of his fingers was unexpectedly soft. 

,,What are you doing? I told you not to touch me!” she snapped at him and pulled away.

,,Oh, just taking one last look at that pretty face... before it’s screaming in pain,” he said as if it was nothing extraordinary.

,,You are one sick monster, Ogron,” Roxy tried her best to prevent her voice from shaking but failed eventually. She was scared, scared like never before in her entire life. These men could and also would do anything to get the information they wanted out of her, and she wasn’t even as scared of the torture than of the fact that she had no idea whether she was strong enough to keep the secret while experiencing it.

,,You can spare yourself the pain, my dear, it’s very simple,” Ogron 

,,But spill now and don’t waste our time anymore,” Gantlos sighed, quite annoyed already.

,,Come on, Gantlos, be a little more polite to the lady,” Ogron gave him a mocking smile and turned back to Roxy, ,,my offer still stands... you have my word. I don’t want to hurt you,” he said in the same fake manipulatively kind way he once used to try to persuade her to give him the White Circle. She knew that the kindness behind his eyes was anything but honest, yet it still made him look so different all of a sudden. When the cruelty behind them disappeared, Roxy realized that he actually had quite outstanding eyes, their pale color giving them a sort of unique beauty and she suddenly realized why was it so easy for him to put her under a spell just by looking at her. It wasn’t just in the eyes however, after she saw his entire face without that arrogant evil smirk, she realized he was actually quite good-looking. His unusual red wavy hair and skin so pale it looked almost white in contrast to his black clothes, his tall, well-built frame, it all gave his look something she could only describe as terrifying beauty, almost radiating his coldness and cruelty, and for some reason that made her heart beat faster for a second.

 _"Maybe I would even think of him as handsome... if it wasn’t for that sick twisted mind of his,”_ a quick thought crossed her mind, " _oh, come on, Roxy, wake up! He’s just probably trying one of his tricks on you again!”_ she reminded herself sternly.

,,I already gave you my answer! I’m not a coward who would betray her friends and also, well, the entire humanity!” she snapped at him.

,,Oh, Roxy, Roxy, youth can indeed be so naive and full of ridiculous ideals, especially when you are a fairy, I guess,” Ogron sighed, ,,but well, you leave me no choice,” he said as he stood up.

The next thing Roxy saw was his dark magic coming from his hands and as it got to her her, she felt like it was the worst imaginable agony ever that suddenly hit her entire body at that moment.  
She screamed in pain, she screamed like never in her life and she couldn’t think about anything, she just wanted it to stop so badly.

,,Stop! Please, just stop!” she shouted without thinking with tears streaming down her face.

,,Giving up so soon?” she heard one of the wizards teasingly ask. It was probably Duman, but she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was making this suffering finally stop.

,,Feel free to give me my answer anytime, my dear,” Ogron said with a clearly unbothered tone in his voice.

,,No!” she shouted, using the last bit of strength she had inside her.

,,You’re apparently still going too soft on her, Ogron,” she heard Gantlos say.

,,Maybe... let me think about it... I guess you’re right,” Ogron laughed sadistically as he made his spell even stronger.

Roxy wanted to lose her consciousness so badly, she just wished to feel nothing at all, to fall to a dark blissful oblivion at least for a while. 

_,,Don’t give up, Roxy!”_ she suddenly heard the voice that spoke to her before again, _,,I will help you. Don’t focus on the pain, focus on my voice. On nothing else, Roxy. I’m here.” ___

____

It was such a sweet voice and it felt like she had heard it somewhere before.

____

_,,But who are you?”_ she asked it. 

____

_,,You’ll find out soon, I promise. Listen to me carefully now, Roxy. These wizards will stop at nothing to get the White Circle and it will take you and your friends great courage and dedication to protect it. Some of you will even have to pay the ultimate price. But whatever it will take, none of you can give up, do you understand? It’s not just the fate of the Earth that lies in your hands now, since if you don’t stop the Wizards of the Black Circle here, their greed and lust for power will spread to other planets and realms as well, possibly conquering them one after another, getting stronger and stronger after every victory until they become truly unstoppable.”_

____

_,,But how can we fight them? They’re already too strong for us! We have never beaten them in a fight, not even once!”_

____

_,,Remember this, Roxy. You can’t fight evil with evil, no matter how tempting it looks. It is the easiest way, yet the easiest way doesn’t lead anywhere. Fight darkness with light, injustice with justice, pain with forgiveness, cowardice with courage, betrayal with kindness. And never forget that even the darkest heart has it’s secrets and pains and hides a desperate call for one thing no one can live without. Love. If you learn and understand everything I just told you, Roxy, you will not only be able to protect the White Circle, but also become a strong and invincible fairy you are meant to be,”_ the voice said kindly.

____

Roxy realized that while listening to the voice of the woman in her head she completely stopped being aware of the pain Orgron’s spell was causing her. It was like she wasn’t even there anymore.

____

_,,Now I must leave you, my dear, but there is one last thing I’ll do for you now.”_

____

As she said it, Roxy felt an incredibly strong wave of light, pure magic washing over her, giving her strength and power she couldn’t even imagine she would ever possess. It was unbelievable, if felt like no amount of dark and evil spells could ever hurt her anymore. In a blink of an eye all of this strong magic radiated from her body and flowed outside like a powerful wave, filling the entire dark room with blinding light.

____

,,No!” she heard some of the wizards scream.

____

When she opened her eyes afterwards, she saw that the light disappeared as quickly as it came, yet there was a difference. All the wizards were down on the floor on the other side of the room, each one of them, even Ogron, who could absorb any damage and turn it into power, looked like they had no magical power or even physical strength left at all. It was as if she truly managed to hit them with this new magic of hers. They looked... defeated. And she also noticed something else, the chains that were binding her till now were suddenly gone.

____

This was her chance.

____


	3. Transitory Moment

She got on her feet and sprinted towards the wooden door as fast as she could, her heart beating like crazy and her blood filled with adrenaline.

 _,,I can do this... just a few more steps...,”_ she thought as just a few meters were parting her from the door.

,,Not so fast, little fairy!” she heard Ogron’s voice, who still wasn’t even on his feet, yet she suddenly felt his magic hitting her and making her fall on the cold, stone floor.

She tried to get up as fast as possible, not even feeling the pain the impact caused her, but then she saw a cloud of black smoke appear in front of her, which took Ogron’s form in a blink of an eye. Roxy formed a sphere of white light in her hands and tried to hit him but he just stopped her magic with his hand and absorbed it into himself.

,,You’re going to regret this, fairy!” he snapped at her. Then he grabbed her and picked her up from the floor, quickly caught her wrists with one hand, holding them behind her back, while he used his other hand to grab her around her shoulders and pressed her to his chest.

,,You may have drained a lot of my magic somehow, but you still won’t be able to escape me, I guarantee you that,” he growled in her ear.

She wanted to hit him with a spell again, but then realized it would only make him stronger, so she used all of her strength to kick him in his shin.

He gasped in pain loudly, but didn’t let her go, he even tightened the grip of his strong hands around her more.

,,You are going to wish you didn’t do that!” he shouted and hit her with his remaining magic, surprisingly still very strong, throwing her against the nearest wall and binding her wrists as well as her ankles to it by a spell.

 _,,No!”_ Roxy screamed internally, _,,this cannot be, I was so close!”_

As Ogron approached her, he suddenly looked completely different than a few moments ago, his arrogant smirk returning to his face again, showing no signs of anger as he knew now he was in control again.

,,Now, now, Roxy, is this was good fairies do?” he joked and grabbed her chin, making her look at him again. She felt fear was taking control over her again as he suddenly towered above her in an intimidating way, the top of her head barely reaching the level of his shoulders, the look of those intense ice-like blue eyes making her feel like it could actually burn her skin.

,,I will never give you what you want!” she spat angrily.

,,Alright, same old story isn’t it?” he rolled his eyes, ,,but this time you may change your mind, since I very much doubt some mysterious magic will save you again.”

,,Don’t spare her any pain, Ogron,” Duman said as he finally got up from the floor together with the other two wizards, ,,she apparently just pretends she’s fragile and weak, give it all you’ve got!”

,,Oh, I will brother, don’t worry,” Ogron smiled, but didn’t her go just yet. He leaned in even closer to her, so close she even felt a light touch of his red hair on her neck and his lips almost touching her ear. She felt like her heart started beating too fast at that moment, yet she wasn’t sure whether it was only caused by the fear. 

,,If you’ll survive this... if you’re smart enough you decide to survive this, tell your dear Winx friends we would like to meet them to finish our victory by finally defeating them once and for all. Well, and if you’re not smart enough... we’ll just tell them personally that they will meet their fate just as you did.” 

Roxy felt like she couldn’t even focus on his words and when he finished, she had no idea what he actually said. All she could think about was how close he was and how for just one split of a second his lips, probably accidentally, brushed against the hairline near her ear.

,,Well... I see you didn’t change your mind... whatever,” Ogron sighed and stepped back.

,,Why do you care so much?” she rolled her eyes, hiding her fear, ,,you want me dead anyway.”

,,Oh, I don’t care. And no, not necessarily dead, just without your magic, since I would like it much more in my own hands. If we accidentally kill you in the process though... I won’t spend sleepless night crying into a pillow that I obliterated one more pathetic annoying fairy. But enough of this chit-chat. I hope you’re prepared.”

As he said it, a dark wave of his still powerful torture spell hit her again, but this time it was different. She felt the pain just as she did before, but something inside her had the strength to fight back. She realized the familiar feeling of the magic that flowed though her before, although now it wasn’t the sensation of the raw pure power she felt before. It was less intense, yet it had something more to it. Roxy knew this wasn’t coming out of her, whatever magic this was, it was a gift she was supposed to use to save herself from the wizards. So she let it shine out of her once more, fighting against Ogron’s dark spell with another ray of bright blinding light flowing through her. Yet this time, it didn’t fill the entire room, it only hit Ogron and sent him flying across the chamber until he hit the opposite wall.

Roxy heard him groan in pain and noticed the other wizards rushing towards him. 

,,Ogron!” Duman exclaimed, looking genuinely worried.

,,How did she do that again?” Anagan asked as he helped Ogron get up, supporting his apparently weakened body.

,,It doesn’t matter how, every fairy magic can be broken,” Gantlos said angrily, ,,should we try to finish her, Ogron? Maybe if we combined our powers...”

,,No!” Ogron shouted, ,,that bitch is mine!”

The wizards weren’t even surprised by his angry outburst. Each one of them knew it was quite like Ogron to lose his temper easily and once he did... 

,,That girl will go though hell tomorrow,” Duman smirked as he turned to Anagan.

,,That is if she doesn’t use another one of her tricks, I suppose,” Anagan replied.

,,Oh, she won’t,” Ogron said while looking Roxy dead in the eye, ,,I will make her wish she had never been born. Nobody defeats me, fairy, and those who try only suffer a crueler, more painful and humiliating end.”

,,Maybe we should at least try to weaken her somehow though,” Duman suggested.

,,I said no! She will be defeated by my power only, so I forbid anyone of you to touch her!” Ogron snapped at him.

,,Let’s go,” Anagan sighed and supported Ogron from his other side.

,,Gantlos, you stay here and make sure our little naughty fairy doesn’t cause any trouble,” Ogron said and his order was immediately followed by a loud groan filled with pain as he tried to take a few steps.

,,I think the trouble was already caused,” Roxy said mockingly. Just as she let those words slip out of her mouth though, she wanted to take them back immediately. 

_,,Shut up, Roxy, you’re in no place to make such jokes right now,” _she scolded herself in her head.__

____

,,You really do have a death wish, don’t you?” Ogron snapped at her.

____

,,Don’t let her provoke you,” Anagan whispered to him, ,,you will make her regret every word but now you need to regain your strength.”

____

Ogron wanted to respond but then he felt a sudden strong piercing pain in his head, feeling like it was going to tear him apart.

____

,,Arghhh!” he screamed loudly and he would fall back on the ground if Anagan and Duman weren’t supporting him.

____

,,That’s enough!” Gantlos shouted and formed a sphere of black smoke in his hands, turning into Roxy’s direction, ,,you’ll pay for everything!”

____

,,Wait! Stop, I haven’t done anything!” Roxy exclaimed, having no idea what was going on.

____

Suddenly she felt like someone hit her in the head and a strong, unbearable pain made her cry out loudly. It was getting worse and worse each second and she had no idea what was the cause. Was it Gantlos’s magic? No, it didn’t feel like a torture spell and she didn’t think he even hit her. All she could feel was the agony and all she could hear was her and Ogron’s voice, shouting like they were experiencing the same pain.

____

,,What is this supposed to mean? What’s going on?” she heard one of the wizards’ panicked voice in the background.

____

Suddenly something changed. The only thing she felt was... Ogron. She couldn’t exactly describe what it was, but she felt him, she felt his touch without his body really being there, heard his voice without recognizing any particular words, looked into his eyes without actually seeing them, he filled her entire consciousness. Like she was inside his head a he was inside hers. Suddenly the pain stopped completely and it was just him. That feeling... she couldn’t put it into words, it wasn’t like anything she experienced ever before. Like the two of them suddenly became one in a strangely intimate way during that one transitory moment, both face to face to something unknown and yet oddly familiar. 

____

Then it stopped. The real world appeared in from of her eyes again, that immediately met Ogron’s. He gave her a strange look and there was no doubt that he was shocked. 

____

_,,What on Earth has just happened?”_ Roxy thought, _“did he feel that too? Something tells me he did...”_

____

,,Ogron... are you alright?” Anagan carefully asked.

____

,,I’m fine,” he replied as if nothing really happened and broke his eye contact with her, ,,let’s go.”

____

Roxy watched as Duman and Anagan supported him from both sides again, since he still looked clearly in pain, and as they were walking out of the room she subconsciously kept her eyes on Ogron the entire time. 

____

,,I’m really not in the mood to babysit you again,” Gantlos sighed, clearly annoyed.

____

,,So don’t!” she snapped at him without thinking again.

____

,,Actually... that’s not a bad idea,” he smirked and took a few steps closer to her. He sent his magic towards her, making the bonds on her wrists and ankles stronger, because they were weakened after she attacked Ogron.

____

,,Don’t try using magic to get out of them... for your own sake,” he said and cloud of dark smoke formed in his hands slowly flew to her face. It immediately caused that she felt like she was suffocating all of a sudden and started coughing and gasping for air.

____

,,Sweet dreams,” Gantlos said and that was the last thing she heard before her heavy eyelids and exhausted body sent her to the realm of sleep.

____


	4. Blind Rage

Ogron still couldn’t understand and refused to admit what just happened to him. He had almost been defeated... by a fairy. By a beginner fairy, who didn’t even properly know how to use her powers yet, on top of that. The anger boiling inside him as Duman and Anagan helped him sit down on his bed made him want to forget the fact that his magic was drained and that he was in pain, he just wanted to storm out of the room, find the last Earth’s fairy again and teach her a lesson she wouldn’t forget so easily. That little powerless fairy has beaten him, however that wasn’t the only unbelievable and strange thing that happened. After she hit him with her strong spell the second time, they both experienced that unbearable pain, that he supposed was the same one for the both of them. And then for a while he felt like they were... connected somehow. She was in his head and he couldn’t see, touch or hear anything else. What was this sort of bond between them for that single moment, he didn’t understand, yet he simply decided not to think about it anymore, since it would just make him even angrier than he already was. So he just laid down and listened to the conversation between the other two wizards.

,,Well... that was certainly strange what happened there,” Anagan stated.

,,That weak puny annoying fairy! She thinks she can defeat us!” Duman clenched his fists, ,,and she’ll pay for that dearly. Oh, I would love to transform into some kind of a monster right now, something that would first scare her to death and then rip her open, watching the life slowly fade from those pretty eyes, while all of her magic would slowly leave her and eventually became a part of the Black Circle,” Duman smiled sadistically.

,,Too bad Ogron won’t let you play with her,” Anagan said phlegmatically and shot their leader a glance, which Ogron completely ignored.

,,Come on, Ogron, you’re not the only one who is mad at her!” Duman complained, ,,just let me teach her a lesson, she’ll be all yours to finish.”

,,I don’t think he’s in a mood for bargaining, Duman,” Anagan remarked.

,,I don’t care. I have the right to do this, if she hurt one of us, she has to deal with the rest of us. We are brothers after all!”

,,Not related by blood but... well, yes. Anyway, just calm down and let it be. She will get what she asked for,” Anagan sighed, not very happy that he had to deal with his youngest brother’s anger right now. 

He knew Duman could be very impulsive and stubborn, which is exactly why he and Ogron were the ones who got into fights most often. When something or someone made him angry, he always made sure that they get what they deserve and often took his need for revenge to the point, where he would not only make his victims repay for what they done, but also torture in the most wicked vicious ways until they were afraid to even see his face, if they ever saw him again. His actions were often based more on instincts and emotions than reason, which was one of the things Ogron couldn’t stand about him and was so often mad about. Yet surprisingly, from all of the wizards the two of them had the closest relationship, which Anagan understood completely, since a long time ago Ogron saved Duman’s life when he was just a child and actually raised him as well, so they truly were like family.

,,No! I can’t stand the idea that she is down there, doing just fine and definitely planning her escape, while we are sitting here like total idiots and doing nothing about it!” Duman shouted.

Ogron haven’t said a single word during the whole conversation and that made Anagan feel quite nervous, since that could only mean one thing. He was angry. Very angry, which was understandable after what he just experienced, so Anagan just hoped Duman was smart enough to notice it as well and shut his mouth before he makes Ogron’s patience run out completely.

,,I’m going there, Ogron. She’ll pay for what she’s done,” Duman declared after pacing in the room like a tiger trapped in its cage for a while.

 _"That annoying brat,”_ Anagan thought while rolling his eyes, _"he really doesn’t know when to stop, does he? Why is he always asking for trouble?”_

,,Duman,” Ogron said and sat up despite the still fresh and strong pain, ,,don’t you dare. I’m not going to repeat this,” he said still calmly.

,,I’m not asking your permission!” the shapeshifter snapped at him furiously.

,,Duman, shut up and calm down!” Anagan interfered angrily, since he felt an aggressive argument was coming up and had to do something about it, ,,now is not a good time. Just get out.”

,,Fine! And I know exactly where!” 

Just as he said it though, he suddenly felt strong magic hitting him and throwing him against the wall, soon starting to feel like it was suffocating him as well.

,,I told you to leave her!” Ogron shouted, already on his feet, ,,she is mine!!”

,,Ogron stop it, you’ll hurt him!” Anagan exclaimed seeing Duman gasping for air, surprised how could Ogron’s magic still be so strong after everything he’s been through.

,,Stay out of it, Anagan, I don’t need your protection!” Duman said with strain. Then he quickly gathered his powers and got out of Ogron’s spell, hitting him with a strong blast, sending him across the room.

,,You’ll regret this, boy!” Ogron shouted and made a dark, dangerously looking spell appear in his hands. Just as Duman started transforming into some kind of a monster he hit him, making him regain his human form and scream in pain. The spell brought him down on his knees and made it impossible for him to move, he could only experience the agony and the horrible pain.

It didn’t last long however, since Duman soon used the boiling anger inside him to give him new strength and freed himself of the agonizing torture spell, hitting Ogron with a similar one in a blink of an eye. Now it was suddenly Ogron screaming on the top of his lungs on the floor.

Anagan couldn’t believe his eyes. Yes, the two of them were fighting sometimes and sometimes it did involve spells, but never ones such strong and cruel.

,,I will destroy you for this!” Ogron shouted as he broke the spell.

,,If you have so much energy left to fight, why didn’t you use it against the fairy but left as a coward instead?” Duman asked mockingly.

That made Ogron even more furious and a moment later the entire room shook as a result of his next attack, as he formed a giant vortex of air, that engulfed literally every single piece of furniture in the room, and sent it flying towards Duman, who afterwards for one short moment disappeared underneath all of the heavy weight that was thrown upon him.

,,That’s enough, Ogron! You’ll kill each other like this!” Anagan used the opportunity to grab the red-haired wizard by shoulders and turn him around to face him.

,,Anagan, if I were you, I would leave as fast as possible and stay out of our business!” Ogron snapped at him.

,,You’ll regret this once you really hurt him,” Anagan warned him.

Ogron didn’t have a chance to respond, since suddenly they heard a roaring sound from the pile of broken destroyed furniture and a second later a giant minotaur with golden eyes filled with raging fury appeared, making the mess that was thrown upon him fly away and hit every single corner of the room.

Duman fixed his eyes on Ogron and quickly sprinted across the room. Before Ogron could hit him of at least make a protection barrier around himself, he was hit by the horns of the giant monster. His scream filled the room, however he had no intention of stopping.

,,You can’t defeat me! Your powers will never equal mine and you know that! You’re still just that pathetic lost child I’ve found abandoned in the streets, helpless, whining and weak, and you’ll always be that and nothing more!” Ogron spat angrily.

That left Duman apparently taken aback for a while, and so the red-haired wizard used the opportunity to hit him with the strongest blast he could manage at the moment, given that his powers were already weakened a lot.

That sent him flying to the opposite wall, yet it didn’t quite end up how Ogron would have expected. Duman, still in shock from his leader’s harsh words, forgot to make a protective shield around him, so the impact did not only make him cry out loudly and turn back to his human form, but it also gave him a quite nasty bleeding wound on the back of his head.

Only at that moment did Ogron fully understand what he’s done and the realization hit him so hard it made him freeze completely, he just stood there, completely speechless and taken aback by his blind rage and cruelty towards someone he really cared about, unable to even form an apology that wanted to make its way out of his mouth so badly.

,,Duman!” Anagan shouted and rushed to help him. He squatted down next to him and tried to observe his scar, but Duman pushed him away harshly.

,,Get lost! I don’t need your help or your pathetic sympathy!” he groaned angrily in pain.

Ogron carefully took a few steps towards him.

,,Duman... I’m so sorry.”

,,Don’t come near me!” Duman shouted at him, his blood boiling not only from all the rage but mostly from the feeling of betrayal and humiliation. After this warning he immediately turned into a bird, his deep scar still very visible, and flew out of the opened window.

,,Great, Ogron... good job,” Anagan clenched his fists, ,,he has a severe injury and has gone to who knows where. If something happens to him now, I hope you know who’s the one to blame!”

Ogron had nothing to say in his defense, it was all true. This was all his fault. He couldn’t believe he has actually done that, that he left his anger consume him so much he would hurt his youngest brother. Despite of what many thought of him, he was not completely heartless and if he had a soft spot, that would be the other wizards, his only family. Especially Duman, who truly didn’t have anybody else in his life than them, ever. Ogron could still remember the day when he decided to save that abandoned child on the street so many years ago, not out of any sympathy or pity, but simply because he felt a strong magic energy radiating from him, that he knew would be useful to him one day. However as the time was passing, forming a bond was inevitable, although for a long time Ogron didn’t want to admit it to himself that he cared for that child with golden eyes and bad temper like he was truly his own family. Still, he could never stand the idea of Duman seeing him as a father figure, so he always thought of him and treated him as a younger brother, and that’s how it stayed, up until today. 

He should have listened to Anagan when he said he’s going to be sorry. The dark-haired wizard was always the calmest one of them, he and Gantlos, who was the most rational and cold-headed, probably lost their temper only a several times in their entire long lives, meanwhile Ogron and Duman were definitely on the bad-tempered side. 

Suddenly he head the door opening and quickly turned around, some small part of him foolishly hoping it was going to be Duman. However instead of him a tall blond wizard stepped inside and looked around him, apparently and rightfully shocked.

,,What on Earth has happened here?” Gantlos asked, ,,did a tornado hit this room?”

,,You could say so,” Anagan replied, apparently annoyed.

,,Where is Duman?” Gantlos wanted to know when he noticed the youngest wizard was missing.

,,You’re not the only one who would like to know that,” Anagan replied and shot Ogron a glance, unusual anger hiding behind his eyes.

He didn’t have to say anything more, since Gantlos knew his ill-tempered brothers and just how easy was it for them to let the rage dominate their reason.

,,Ogron, don’t tell me that...” he started but before he finished Ogron disappeared in a cloud of black smoke, determined to find his youngest brother and also absolutely not in the mood to listen to the complaints of his fellow wizards. He was responsible for what happened, so he was going to be the one to make it right. 

_,,After I come back with Duman... the last fairy on Earth will wish she has never been born,”_ he thought, feeding his need for revenge with hatred while desperately trying to shift the blame onto the pink-haired fairy.


	5. New Temptation

When Roxy woke up, she had no idea how long she’s actually been asleep but it felt like and entire eternity. The room around her was just as dark and dimly enlightened as before, since the only torch on one of the stone pillars didn’t exactly provide it with much light. There was no sign that anyone could be around, which made her sigh in relief. The last thing she remembered was Gantlos putting her under some kind of a spell, which was probably the reason why she slept for such a long time, or at least that was how she felt.

 _,,If I only had a clue what has happened there...,”_ she thought, _“who was that woman in my head and how could I have defeated Ogron? Anyway, that doesn’t matter now, if I don't find a way to get out of here soon, I doubt I will be this lucky again.”_

Suddenly an idea crossed her mind. She remembered that Tecna gave her a device, probably about three months ago, that could send the Winx and emergency signal whenever she was in danger. She didn’t know how was it possible, that she just forgot about it. The best thing about it was that she could activate it with her magic, which was very helpful now, since her wrists were still attached to the wall, the magical chains uncomfortably binding them above her head.

She tried to gather all of her magical powers and energy, but the chains made even that extremely difficult, since they were designed to weaken all of her spells. Finally, after a few unsuccessful attempts, she somehow managed to send enough magic to activate the little device that she was hiding in her pockets and as it flew out and stopped at the level of her eyes, shining out a few rays of digital spells, it made Tecna’s face appear in front of her in a form of a barely visible hologram.

,,Roxy!” she shouted out, half relieved, half scared, ,,Roxy, for goodness sake, what happened? We were all so worried! Did something happen to you? Are you alright? Did the wizards abduct you? Where are you? Can you describe me your surroundings?”

,,Whoa, slow down Tecna, one question at a time, please!” Roxy exclaimed, quite surprised by the sudden outburst of questions, she had never seen Tecna acting this chaotic and illogical and neither could she ever imagine her acting like that. She looked like she was in panic and also very relieved at the same time, which made Roxy realize once again how much did those girls care for her and that they probably saw her as one of them now.

,,Okay, sure, you’re right,” Tecna took a deep breath, ,,first question, are you in some sort of an imminent danger right now? 

,,Right now no, I don’t think so,” she replied, the corners of her mouth lifting a little in spite of the situation she was in. That was more like the Tecna she knew.

,,All right, then hang in there, I’m going to call the other Winx, it’ll just take a second,” she said as her pale hologram face disappeared, leaving only a sphere of a soft white light in front of Roxy’s eyes. 

A few seconds later she could finally see all the girls, their faces showing a something between worry, relief and excitement.

,,Roxy, we’re so glad you’re alright!” Flora exclaimed happily, ,,we were so worried about you!”

,,We don’t know, whether she’s alright,” Aisha reminded her, ,,aren’t you hurt?”

,,Well, my powers are weakened a little bit but other than that I’m fine,” Roxy answered, not even considering the possibility of telling them about Ogron’s torture, that still made several parts of her body ache quite badly, not to even mention the few broken ribs she has already woken up with. Now was not a good time to focus on the pain or worry to her friends even more than they already were.

,,It was Ogron and his wizards, am I right?” Bloom asked, ,,did they kidnap you?”

,,Yes, it was them,” Roxy nodded, not hiding any bitterness in her voice.

,,And do you know, by any chance, where are you right now?” Tecna asked, ,,if not, at least try to describe what do you see around yourself. Even though I might actually try to track the device I gave you...”

,,Well, I don’t see much except some stone walls and pillars, a big wooden door and...” 

Roxy didn’t manage to finish her sentence though, since out of a sudden, quite unexpectedly, she felt the pain again, the same pain in her head that tortured her before, when some force made her experience that strange, unexplainable connection with Ogron.

,,Aaaaargh!” she cried out loudly in pain, almost scaring everyone on the other side of the hologram to death.

,,Roxy, Roxy, what’s happening?! Are you alright?! Talk to us!” she heard the panicked voices of the girls.

,,Oh no, she is in pain! Tecna, can’t we send our magic to her though that device?” Flora asked desperately.

,,I think we could, just let me change a few things in the setting,” Tecna replied, trying her best to keep calm but failing, since the screams of her friend made it very difficult to focus even for a level-headed person like her.

,,Well you could try to do it a little faster, she looks like she’s going to faint!” Roxy heard Stella’s shout and that was the last thing before her entire world faded into ominous darkness.

She was still conscious though, only her mind drifted away somewhere else, in a strange dark place without any lights where she couldn’t see or hear anything. 

And then, all of a sudden, she noticed someone standing there with her. First she didn’t quite see him properly but after a short while she could easily recognize the red wavy hair, the broad shoulders and dark clothes.

,,What... what is this supposed to mean? Let me go, Ogron!” she shouted, more scared than outraged, ,,I don’t know what kind of a trick is this, but it won’t work! You won’t get me now!”

In truth, Ogron was just as confused as her and had no idea what was going on and why did some strange power connect them like this again, yet he quickly spotted a chance to use Roxy’s panic and wrong assumption to his advantage.

,,Oh, it will work, my dear. You should stop resisting, Roxy. You’re in my power now and no one can save you, not even your pathetic little fairy friends. If I were you, I would warm them... if they try to come and save you, we will kill you. We will heartlessly kill you right in front of their eyes, so if I you care about them at least a little bit, be a good girl and tell them right now that trying to take what belongs to the Wizards of the Black Circle is nothing but a ridiculous foolishness,” he laughed, a sinister smile playing on his lips.

After finishing his threat he wasted no time as he hit her with a strong dark spell, bringing her down on her knees and making it completely impossible for her to move, once again.

,,Let me go!” Roxy shouted and tried her best to break the spell, however she could feel that she wasn’t strong enough to do that, since the magical chains were weakening her magic even in this place.

,,First tell the Winx not to dare come here for you, right now, then we can talk!” Ogron ordered with that evil wicked smile of his.

,,Oh, they will come, you monster, they are already on their way and you won’t have me!” Roxy shouted furiously, without thinking at all, just to realize a second later that she has done a terrible mistake. Ogron couldn’t possibly have any idea that the Winx made a connection with her and were truly coming to save her, it was probably just his assumption, yet she fell right into his trap.

,,Oh, my dear, sweet, naive fairy, just how easy it is for me to get anything out of you,” he laughed, his evil voice sending shivers down her spine, and took a few steps closer.

Roxy felt so humiliated and ashamed by her own mistake that she simply couldn’t reply. He was right.

“Why can’t you think before you speak, you stupid girl?” she scolded herself in her head.

She let her guard down for a while, lost in her own thoughts, so angry at her impulsive mistake, and as a result she didn’t even notice Ogron getting dangerously close to her. Only after he squatted down in front of her, their bodies just a few inches apart, she became aware of his menacing proximity, her lips almost letting out a scream from the sudden shock.

,,What are you doing?!” she snapped at him and instinctively tried to pull away only to be reminded she was bound by his spell.

,,I’m getting some answers,” he replied calmly, without showing any particular emotion.

“Or at least hopefully I am,” he added in his thoughts. He didn’t want this connection to suddenly happen between them again and apparently neither did she, so he felt an excruciating need to find out what was happening, but most importantly, why was it happening. He wasn’t used to the feeling of magic controlling him, it was always the other way around. He knew his powers very well after all those years and there was almost no kind of spell he could not break. This one, however, he couldn’t even recognize. 

He lifted his hand and touched her face, hoping a physical contact would reveal something more about the nature of the connection. 

,,Stop it! Don’t touch me!” Roxy spat angrily as the need to pull away grew even stronger than before. He completely ignored her outraged outburst though, trying not to lose his focus. 

,,Can you at least tell me what are you doing right now?” she sighed, annoyed and giving up her fight against his magic.

However, the physical contact didn’t help either, Ogron couldn’t figure out anything except for one fact, that the magic keeping them both here was not coming from her, which, after all, wasn’t such a surprise.

,,Admiring you pretty face, what else?” he responded teasingly, using at least the opportunity to make her even more furious. It wasn’t a complete lie though. As he held her small face in his palm, he realized that those big lavender eyes and straight pink hair perhaps made her look like a typical fairy, but combined with her pretty features, somehow... he couldn’t say that he did not enjoy the sight. 

,,... I told you to let me go!”

,,Oh, come on now, Roxy, since we're here together now and apparently no one else seems to be around, why not have a little fun?” he asked smirking as he lifted up her chin.

His gaze wandered down to her lips without him actually realizing it. Such beautiful, pink, full lips... he wondered for a second whether they are truly as soft and sweet as they look. Suddenly those lips have awaken something deep inside him, completely against his will, a possessive instinct, an unexpected urge to experience their touch, claim them, dominate them, even if just for a short while...

Roxy’s heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest, once again. Why was she always feeling so strange when Ogron was so close to her like this? She should be angry, disgusted, she should try to fight and yet... she didn’t want to. Slowly she started to realize that the touch of his fingers under her chin was not unpleasant at all and as he leaned even closer to towards her, their faces almost touching, she knew that even if it wasn’t for the spell, she probably wouldn’t be able to pull herself away...

Ogron’s fingers lightly caressed her cheek and put a few strands of her hair she had in front of her face behind her ear. He had no idea what was he doing... he has never felt any need to treat anyone, especially a fairy, in such a gentle manner but he couldn’t help himself. Being so close to her, there was something that captivated him about her and made him forget all the anger he felt towards her. 

An instinctive idea suddenly came across his mind, and he somehow didn’t even try to resist it. Their closeness was so unbearable and tantalizing, it still felt like they were too far away, he just wanted to eliminate the little space between them by capturing her lips in an intense kiss neither of them would be able to forget. 

Roxy wished for the same thing at the moment, she knew she wasn’t thinking straight and she didn’t care at all. She could feel his strong chest touching hers, making her aware of his accelerated breaths, making her wish that his arms pulled her into his embrace, so that she could also feel the beat of his heart, the heart she knew, or at least hoped, existed there somewhere. 

Suddenly she felt the spell that was making it unable for her to move gradually disappeared. 

Ogron did that on purpose, it didn’t feel right to do what he wanted to without her wanting it as well. It didn’t feel right... when was he even thinking like this for the last time? He never cared for what’s right. What was this fairy doing to him?

Roxy didn’t pull away, even if she had the chance now, instead she lifted her hand and shyly touched his face, just to try how it feels, her nervous breaths gently tickling his neck.

“This could be a trap,” a voice of reason said in her head, “don’t do it...”

It was too late though. Even if his lips had poison on them, she would touch them with hers anyway, unable to resist the new, unknown, irrational temptation.

Then he leaned towards her and just at the moment she expected their eager bodies to unite... a strong ray of light appeared in front of her eyes and brought her back to reality.


	6. Pride and Weakness

As Ogron found himself back in the reality, away from that strange connection created by an unknown magical force, he realized, with a great amount of displeasure, what actually happened in that dark mysterious place where their minds collided. 

First he found comfort in a temporary denial of some sort, however that didn't last long, since the fact was he _did_ realize everything that happened was as true and real as the soft ground underneath his feet and earthy scent of the forest surrounding him. No… that wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. 

He sat down on the ground, breathing in the cold refreshing air in a desperate attempt to clear his mind. He started feeling an unfamiliar chest pain, his hands were shaking a little and his thoughts kept returning to the place where he strictly forbid them to wander. 

No, he didn’t have time for this. He came to that forest for a reason and with a mission, he couldn’t let anything get into his way. Especially not… that. He had to find Duman, yes, he had to find his brother and make sure he was alright, that was all that truly mattered. He could be in real danger, suffering alone somewhere, all because of him… and yet, there he was, thinking about that annoying little fairy, unable to extinguish the need she has awoken inside him, anger, rage and longing mixing together, creating a mess of raw, wild emotions that were driving him insane. 

As minutes passed and the last rays of sun were gradually replaced by the cold silver light of the moon and the stars, each second turned the last remains of pleasure into intense, raging storm of hatred. What was wrong with him back there? He had the fairy at his mercy, she couldn’t fight back and instead of making her suffer, his thoughts and actions turned in a completely different direction. The burning anger he felt towards her, as well as towards himself, made him clench his fists, his need for vengeance growing unbearably intense.

,,Who does she think she is?” he whispered quietly, finding relief in hearing the sound of his own hatred intertwining with the cold wind, ,,she will pay dearly for trying to make a fool out of me, and whatever spell she managed to put me under to save her pathetic life will never work again!”

His threat echoed in the dark eerie forest, the tall trees bending down in the sudden strong wind, as if the nature itself agreed and approved of his need for vengeance, or as if it simply didn’t dare to oppose the next denial escaping from the red-haired wizard’s lips. The truth… the humiliating truth was that there was no magic involved and he knew that very well, it was simply impossible for a young, inexperienced fairy like her to put him, a several centuries old wizard who knew how to fight against every form of magic, under that kind of a spell. Even declaring it untrue out loud didn’t change the reality. He was almost seduced by a fairy. He, the leader of the Wizards of the Black Circle and one of the most powerful magicians who ever lived, couldn’t resist the temptation of one pretty face.

,,Next time I’ll find her I’ll make her regret…,” he whispered, unable to finish his sentence, since in fact he couldn’t find anything to blame her for, just trying to make his rage against himself turn in a different direction as stood up from the ground.

He really had to start focusing now and leave the past in the past, Duman could be in serious trouble, and that wasn’t all. He at least managed find out that the Winx were coming to save Roxy, so that meant he should get back as fast as possible. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Gantlos and Anagan to handle that bunch of powerless little girls with pretty wings, he just wanted to be there himself to humiliate them and make it clear that until they reveal the whereabouts of the White Circle, Roxy would be in their power, he wanted to see that defeated expression in their faces, but mostly enjoy the look of terror and fear behind certain lavender eyes…

Suddenly he heard a desperate sound coming without any warning, making the quiet ominous forest covered in cold light lose its eerie peace. It was definitely a sound of a hurt animal, the howl filled with pain making that much clear, and it whatever let out the cry probably wasn’t even far away. Ogron’s heart skipped a beat after hearing this clear sign of torment, not because he would normally care, but because he was almost completely sure he knew what, or actually who, made the sound.

As he spotted a big black bear with golden eyes and a nasty scar on its head, it was clear that he found what he came for, his own guilt suddenly hurting him like a sharp knife, digging itself deeper and deeper each second while watching Duman put up a fight against the pain, his growls and the red color of his blood almost like a warning to anyone who would try to come near him. 

Ogron didn’t even remember when was the last time he felt such a lowly emotion as guilt, being one of those people blessed, or perhaps cursed, with that special ability to justify any action they take, no matter how horrid and cruel, living in a constant subconscious state of reminding themselves that the only person worthy of having everything the way they want to have it, is themselves. Some would describe such personality trait as selfishness, but in truth it was just some sort of vast carelessness, which was the result of being actively oblivious to the rest of the world in order to focus on things that held greater importance and value in his own eyes.

Now, however, it was different. Something impossible happened as the arrogant red-haired wizard watched his brother, unsure of how to approach him, and somehow fully realized and admitted his mistake. He knew he was sorry, but to form a proper apology, something he _never_ did, felt like an act completely beyond his abilities.

However he decided he would figure that out later, since now he really needed to take some action. He teleported himself behind a big tree, careful not to make even the smallest sound. He wasn’t really sure how to make the shapeshifter aware of his presence, Duman could possibly try to attack him if he didn’t cool down yet, which was more than possible, and that would mean Ogron would have to defend himself and perhaps he would unintentionally hurt him again.

Suddenly he noticed Duman using his magic and turning himself into his human body again, sighing in pain and sitting down, leaning against the thick trunk behind him.

,,What, are you here to finish our fight?” he asked mockingly, his strong accent somehow making the words sound even more scornful, ,,if yes I don’t see the reason why you’re hiding. Don’t let that tiny scratch mistake you, I’m more than ready to kick your ass.”

Of course Duman knew he was there, his animal senses couldn’t be fooled, not even for a single second. So Ogron decided to walk towards him, slowly and carefully, showing he wants no more conflict, even though he had no idea how his younger brother was going to react. Duman acted based on instincts almost every time and now they were undoubtedly telling him to attack.

,,That’s not just a scratch, Duman. Calm down, I’m only here to talk,” he said, cautiously approaching him like a wounded animal, which he in a sense also was.

,,Oh, now you pretend you’re the big caring brother!” Duman spat, his voice filled with judgmental sarcasm, ,,just get lost before I get even angrier, I’m warning you! My guilty pleasure for the entire last hour was imagining how I’m tearing you apart piece by piece!” 

Ogron knew that once Duman got angry it was everything but easy to make him calm down again, however he knew him better than just to see this obvious raging side of him. He was aware of the fact that except him nobody knew, not even Anagan and Gantlos, the fact that the youngest wizard was hiding a completely different side of him behind the tough look, burning anger and the very well mastered act of cockiness and confidence. As unbelievable as it seemed, Duman actually had a very sensitive personality and deep inside he could get hurt easily, only words being enough to shatter him like glass, which he, of course, would never show or admit, not even to himself. He would rather die than to show such weakness, which was undeniably a result of Ogron’s way of child rearing. 

When Ogron became aware of this side of Duman’s personality, back in the days when the shapeshifter was just a kid, he always used to get annoyed by the whining child who used to cry about having to hurt others, about the reason his parents left him, about being a kind of creature he was, and that’s why he taught him to suppress this side of him, telling him that a wizard never shows his pain or fears. Perhaps it was his fault Duman ended up unable to deal with his rage so often, because that’s exactly what he taught him, to replace weakness with strength. He didn’t regret that decision, however at this moment he _did_ feel some sort of compassion, remembering that while raising his brother he really didn’t make it easy for him, an almost imperceptible expression of regret in his face revealing he truly _did_ have a soft spot for his family. Yes, Ogron was a villain, but his heart hasn’t turned to stone completely yet, even though he wasn’t consciously aware of that fact, and perhaps didn’t even want to be.

,,Listen, Duman, I already apologized, what more do you want?” he spat angrily, his irritated tone caused not only by the lack of the feeling he need to say sorry again, but also by knowing that showing Duman more compassion and worry would only make him angrier, as he was someone way too proud to stand someone seeing him as weak.

,,Perhaps just so that once, just once in your life you don’t act like a total asshole!” he growled and stood up, ,,I always knew that when you found me as a kid you only decided to take me with you because you realized I had strong powers, even if you never said it, it wasn’t hard to figure that much out. My entire life I only wanted one thing, I wanted to embrace my powers, telling myself that I want that to take revenge on my father who left me without ever meeting me and my mother who thought I was a monster, but that wasn’t really the reason. I always thought that if I learned from you, maybe one day... maybe I would become as powerful as you, maybe you would finally start seeing me as your equal, not just a child with great potential but insufficient skills to handle his magic. I needed that to prove to myself... I don’t even know what I wanted to prove to myself, I probably just wanted to please my ego. And make you finally see me as someone, who...,” he stopped for a while, as if unable to find the right words, ,, someone who was worthy of having you as a teacher and a brother.”

Ogron was quite taken aback by this angry, yet honest outburst, actually he was so surprised he didn’t even know how to reply. Duman never used to talk about his feeling, unless, of course, he was expressing his rage or need for revenge and power, so such sudden, raw, vulnerable honesty escaping his lips like an uncontrolled storm was everything but expected. 

,,Just forget it,” Duman said after a while, his flaming golden eyes slowly turning a few shades darker, the flames of anger inside them deserting him, replaced by lingering shame, ,,I know you never really cared and you were right when you always told me to finally grow up and stop looking up to others and be my own man. The only thing that gets me about this, about myself, is that I haven’t learned how to do that in centuries,” he growled and aggressively kicked away a fallen branch on the ground.

,,You should come back,” Ogron said bluntly, since he didn’t know how, and also wasn’t prepared to continue this conversation. The shapeshifter’s confession left him feeling surprisingly empty and emotionless, perhaps his heart truly _was_ made of stone after all.

,,The Winx will be there soon, I managed to find that out, they will try to save Roxy.”

,,And why should I care?”

 _"Because you’re one of us and your place is with us,”_ he wanted to say but somehow his lips were unable to form those words, the exact words he had the feeling his brother needed to hear.

,,Because I know how much you love a good hunt and an even better price,” he said instead with an evil grin, choosing the power of temptation over compassion, ,,come on, you remember those pretty wings those pesky little fairies have? I bet you’d like to rip some of them off and drain their magic...” he laughed, knowing very well Duman won’t be able to resist the idea of seeing the fairies suffer from terrible pain for a very long time.

,,That does sound tempting...,” Duman admitted reluctantly. However he couldn’t help himself and just a short moment later an evil little smirk formed on his lips. That smirk used to play on those lips quite often, making his face, which had sharp, yet not unattractive features which gave him a unique look of unusual beauty, look quite twisted. 

,,But I have one condition,” he quickly added, ,,if the Earth fairy tries to fight, I will give her a lesson, without destroying her completely.”

,,As long as you leave the pleasure of the final touch to me... fine,” Ogron replied, knowing that Duman had every right to ask for a compromise in this situation.

,,But first, let me deal with that,” he said, motioning at the wound on Duman’s head, the dark red blood making a part of his pink hair turn into the color of Ogron’s, and slowly streaming down his neck, his dark clothes getting soaked in it.

,,Just leave it, I’m fine,” Duman waved his hand dismissively.

,,No, you are not,” Ogron said, grabbing his arm when he already wanted to teleport himself.

,,I’m telling you that I don’t need...”

,,Just shut up and let go of your pride for one second, will you?” Ogron snapped at him, criticizing the same vice he himself never even tried to get rid of during his entire life, ,,you’re not going anywhere like this.”

He formed a spell in his hands and focused on making it stronger. Only a few people knew, actually no one except the wizards, that besides the power of turning damage into strength he also had the power of healing magic. It was very rare for a dark wizard not only to have two different powers, but also to have one that was formed from light magic. He didn’t quite understand it either, however it was very helpful many times so he didn’t care.

As his spell grew strong enough, Duman’s wound gradually began to heal, leaving no trace of the blood or cut skin.

,,Let’s hunt down some fairies,” the shapeshifter smirked confidently after his wound disappeared completely, almost as if intentionally ignoring the relief, thankful to Ogron for healing him, yet still too proud and stubborn to express it. The idea of a simple ,,thank you” lingered in his mind for a while, but he decided to dismiss it, saying no more before using his magic to teleport himself back to the place where they kept Roxy, without even waiting for Ogron.


	7. Merciless Truth

Finding comfort in denial isn't a really difficult thing to do, at least not for a short time. After a while, however, the reality begins ceaselessly knocking on the door leading to the mind of the person, who tries to change it. 

Roxy experienced this fact for the first time in her life now, never before having to deal with such a great deal of shame that she would be tempted to blame the undeniable facts for being untrue. Unfortunately, the nature of the truth was always the same, merciless and unforgiving, without any intention of sparing her the terrible feeling of indignity.

Once she finally accepted it, dreading this acceptance more than anything in her life before, she found herself being absolutely furious, incredibly mad at herself for almost allowing something to happen, what she would probably end up regretting for the rest of her life. It couldn’t have been for real that she felt that way about him, not even for a minute, not even for a second. She wasn’t crazy, she knew what kind of a man he was. Cruel, manipulative and wicked, he wanted nothing else than to find the White Circle and steal her powers afterwards, so that he could rule the Earth, spreading fear and terror like a power-hungry bastard he was. She felt so disgusted with herself, how could she ever feel attracted, even for a split second and even if purely physically, to a monster like this? 

He must have put her under some kind of a spell. Yes… yes, that was definitely why she did all the things she did and why she felt the things she felt. Something told her it wasn't like that, however… no, she told her mind to shut up, sternly and decisively, extinguishing all the thoughts that could break her very fragile, almost artificial inner peace.

All of a sudden her wandering stream of consciousness was interrupted when she heard a noise, as if someone was trying to break into the dimly enlightened, quite menacing room she was kept in. She immediately felt the adrenaline torturing her veins, her breaths rapidly accelerating, her mind so terrified she felt like she was seeing a ghost, seeing _him_ as he entered the room, immediately and vividly recalling the phantom touch oh his fingertips on her face…

,,Roxy!”

The voice wasn’t his… no, it really wasn’t. Thank goodness…! 

A strong, blinding ray of light filled the room, perhaps not even so strong and so blinding, but to her eyes that already got accustomed to the dim darkness it definitely wasn’t a pleasant experience. She closed them as fast as possible, since she didn’t need them to find out who were her mysterious visitors, she knew those voices way too well and she was never happier in her entire life to hear them.

,,Roxy are you alright…?” a soft delicate voice filled with genuine worry wanted to know.

,,Oh, come on, Stella! Stop showing off, a little less light would be more than enou-…” a slightly irritated girl scolded, just to be harshly interrupted. 

,,Don’t _you_ want to do it next time, Aisha? I’m sure you would manage to do it better…!” a spoiled, little arrogant voice spat angrily.

,,Come on, that’s enough!” a sharp, annoyed snap echoed in the room.

The painfully strong light finally turned less uncomfortable after the short argument, which enabled Roxy to actually open her eyes without her eyelids instinctively shutting them again. 

,,Girls! It’s so good to see you!” she exclaimed in relief, infinitely thankful for their presence and somehow subconsciously regretting all the times she thought of them as an annoying, unwanted burden in her peaceful life.

,,Don’t worry, Roxy, we’ll get you out of here in no time!” Bloom promised as she landed by her side in a graceful manner, giving the impression her every movement was showing so much confidence and unshakable faith as if its purpose was to prove her words were true.

,,Thanks, girls, I have honestly no idea how would I have handled this without you,” Roxy forced a weak smile, trying to hide her pain and in the back of her mind constantly aware of a hopeful wish that something in her face or her behavior wouldn't show the humiliating shame from her previous actions.

,,Rather than thanking us, you should be thanking Tecna’s little technical gadgets, you know, radars, detectors and some other mumbo-jumbo like that, that’s how we found you,” Stella announced cheerfully, the careless tone in her voice almost giving the impression she wasn’t even nearly realizing the gravity of the situation, which didn’t really surprise Roxy that much. 

Yes, Princess Stella of Solaria, the golden girl, spoiled and living her entire life in a blissful bubble of luxury, admiration and infinite adoration from her countless idolaters, a girl too pampered and self-important to really see the troubles of the world around her and at the same time too shallow to care. No, Roxy knew it wasn’t right to think about her in such scornful way, Stella wasn’t a bad person, she really wasn’t. It was just something about her pretentious personality, her unaware snobbery and her vanity without any trace of shame, that made Roxy like her the least from all the girls, felling like they were so different in the most essential personality traits that no deep friendship could ever really from between the two of them. 

,,Don’t even thank my devices yet, we still haven’t gotten you out of here,” Tecna reminded pragmatically and looked at the bonds around Roxy’s wrists and ankles, ,,how will we get her out of those? If it’s the Wizards’ magic it won’t be so easy to break them.”

,,You are absolutely right about that,” an arrogant male voice echoed in the dim room all of a sudden and as if out of nowhere four dark threatening figures formed from the ominous smoke of sinister magic.

Roxy’s heart skipped a beat when her eyes landed on the wizard whose touch still seemed to linger on her soft skin and send shivers down her spine. Their eyes met for a short while but before recognizing any sort of a thought, emotion or feeling in his, she turned hers away in a mixture of desperation, fear an anger. 

,,Girls, shields!” Bloom shouted just in time so that all the girls could protect themselves against the quick attack that followed almost too fast for Roxy to realize what was going on.

Even though the Winx managed to protect themselves from the spell that hit them this time, they all knew that this wasn’t going to be an easy fight. They were defeated by the Wizards of the Black Circle so many times, that as Tecna once mentioned, statistically a chance of success, if they had any following encounter in the future, would be very close to zero.

,,You really are so naive, just coming here and expecting us to welcome you with open arms and let you take Roxy back. Did you really think we wouldn’t know this would happen, sooner or later?” Ogron laughed mockingly, honestly amused by the lack of experience and imagination of his enemies, who he considered nothing else than pathetic. 

He formed a black could of smoke in his hands and attacked Flora, who happened to be the closest to him, with his dark magic. It was so sudden that she didn’t manage to avoid it and ended up hitting the wall behind her, letting out a painful cry.

All of the wizards smirked, cruel satisfaction visible on their faces. 

Well, all except for one. Roxy noticed that Anagan didn’t seem to be so thrilled about Ogron’s successful shot as the rest of them, an almost imperceptible flicker of worry appearing in his dark eyes for one short moment, however his expression changed to the one of indifferent coldness so quickly Roxy wasn’t sure she haven’t just made that observation up. 

,,Oh, this one is mine,” Duman smirked with wicked hunger written all over his face, eager to lay his hands on a fairy at last and tear her wings off, finally having a chance to experience the thrill of a cruel satisfaction he ceaselessly craved.

,,Not now, we need to defeat the rest of them first,” Anagan stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

,,You’re spoiling my fun, brother,” the youngest wizard rolled his eyes in annoyance but listened to him.

,,We may have lost all the battles with you before, but you haven’t won the war yet!” Bloom shouted as bright flames began forming in her hands, their threatening heat rapidly spreading across the entire room, ,,Dragon’s rage!”

She directed her attack at Gantlos, as she knew that fighting Ogron was pointless. However this attempt proved to be just as futile, since the red-haired wizard quickly teleported himself in front of her target, absorbing all the damage and growing even stronger.

,,You’ll never learn you pathetic fairy, will you?” he asked with teasing sarcasm, ,,wizards, join powers, now!” he commanded and before the Winx could do anything, a powerful dark spell rising from their joined hands hit them in a strong wave of destructive energy, making them fall on the ground and leaving them without any strength left to resist or even to simply stand up. 

,,No!” Roxy shouted desperately, realizing with utter dismay that her only chance of escape might be gone, ,,don’t give up! Please…”

,,Roxy, my dear,” a wicked grin spread across Ogron’s face as he took a few steps closer to her with obvious confidence, ,,they have no powers left, they can’t save you now. Not that they ever stood a chance. You see, if it wasn’t for their stubborn annoying persistence when it comes to fighting for you and protecting you, we would’ve just let them be, since we had no reason to care about them at all. However, they misunderstood one very important thing…” he said, getting even closer, his proximity making her nothing else than absolutely terrified as just those few steps between them were the only thing separating them from each other’s touch, ,,…that they should never come between the hunter and his prey.”

,,And besides, having a few more fairies to drain power from, especially ones such powerful, who wouldn’t like that?” Duman added as he squatted down next to Bloom, touching her wings with his fingers, observing her with the eyes of a skilled hunter knowing that the weakened prey is already his.

,,Let them be!” Roxy shouted and tried to fight against the bonds in one last desperate attempt, unsurprisingly without any success.

,,Take whichever you like and do what you want with them,” Ogron said, a cruel smile playing on his lips, ,,just get them out of here.”

Roxy couldn’t do anything, anything except for helplessly watching the scene unfolding in front of her eyes, her weakened friends having no strength left to resist as the wizards were taking them away, Duman picking up Bloom in a bridal style, Gantlos doing the same with Stella and Anagan with Flora.

,,Oh, and come back for the rest of them, there is one more for each of you,” Ogron added with an unbothered indifference and turned to Roxy. 

Then he slowly took two more steps, enjoying her apparent fear with twisted pleasure, making sure to be so close her that their bodies were almost touching, making Roxy’s breath and heartbeat rapidly speed up as every time when the distance between them became a little too intimate for her liking. Why was her body reacting in this way…? Was it fear? Yes, it must have been that, just fear, fear and nothing else, she was scared, it was just fear, she didn’t fell anything more, she didn’t feel nothing else…

She kept mindlessly repeating those vague thoughts somewhat consciously in the back of her mind, as if some sort of a desperate plea to herself, necessary to keep herself sane. The denial was there again, its very presence being mockingly undeniable, but she wouldn’t let that disturb her almost childish, stubborn effort with a pitiful lack of elaboration and point, an effort to completely ignore the nature of her accelerated breaths and uneasy mind.

Then he suddenly lifted his hand and left it in the air for a second, as if he was thinking about what should he decide to do with it, then a small smile appeared on his face as he touched her cheek with the back of his hand in a slow, gentle caress. There was something so creepy about that gesture, perhaps the lack of the even faintest real affection. She immediately turned her face away with an angry growl.

He ignored it and leaned towards her, closing the little distance between their bodies and whispering into her ear quietly: ,,The two of us have some unfinished business and we don’t want anyone to disturb us, right?”


	8. Sweet Manipulation

The moments of waiting, the minutes that seemed like hours, the seconds spent in an almost terrifying silence between the two of them were a pure, deliberate torture. Yes, Roxy knew Ogron was intentionally ignoring her as he waited for his fellow wizards to return for her three friends, she knew it was somehow a part of his plan to first calculatingly use his proximity to make her heart beat so hard she could almost hear it and then just to take a few steps back like nothing actually happened. As the atmosphere in the room had grown unbearably oppressive she realized she would give anything, literally anything to have a chance to get at least the slightest glimpse inside his head, inside that cruel, twisted mind that must have already come up with some kind of a sinister plan to make sure her suffering only worsens from now on. 

She decided she won’t look at him, her fear as well as her pride forbidding her to meet his eyes, she would never forgive herself if she let him see how terrified she was now. Her plan failed, however, as some almost unknown, mysterious force of daring curiosity made her lift her gaze somewhat involuntarily, eager to examine his face during one short moment when she was sure he wasn’t looking at her.

Absent-mindedness took over her as her eyes soaked up the bright pallor of his face, subconsciously realizing that instead of seeing it as frightening and unnatural, it was rather giving her the impression of some mysterious enigma, almost as if it was kissed by the moon and the stars many centuries ago, or perhaps as if he was born all those years ago from the white coldness of the snow, ice and frozen lands. One would almost expect that his touch would feel like a frosty chill… it didn't, she knew that. The flickering flames of the torches in the room were casting dark shadows on his face that somehow seemed to intensify the aura of power and mystery around him, the warm orange light dancing on his hair caused that its color of blood gained an almost terrifying shade, as if it was a reminder of all his victims, yet something about that sight fascinated her, strangely and endlessly. And even thought his entire presence was undeniably ghastly, she couldn’t help but felt some sort of a mystical attraction towards him, once again… no! That’s enough! She couldn’t allow herself to think like that…

She got so absorbed in her thoughts and observation that the next thing she realized was the loud sound of the heavy wooden door closing behind the wizards once again, and as her eyes travelled down to the floor she realized it was already empty, Aisha, Tecna and Musa were taken away as well. 

,,You know what’s the one thing I really don’t get about your friends?” the red-haired wizard asked as he turned around finally to face her, ,,why come here and try to save you without bringing the only real weapon they have against us? Not only would it finally make our little fights more interesting, but they would also spare us the effort of getting the whereabouts of the White Circle out of them, which, at the end of the day, would be for them as well.”

,,Skip the small talk, Ogron,” Roxy snapped at him, successfully hiding her fear, ,,just get to the point.”

,,Aren’t you just so adorable when you’re angry,” he laughed in an honesty entertained way, ,,but if you want to get to the point now, that’s fine by me,” he said while his face expression changed rapidly, anger flashing behind his eyes as he roughly grabbed her chin to make her look at him. She gasped in shock, that unexpected aggressive touch left her breathless for a moment. She couldn’t even imagine what he actually wanted from her. Nor his thoughts about what happened between them…

,,Let me make one thing clear right now, my little fairy. If you think you can make a fool out of me, you are very much mistaken and I suggest that you never try to play your little games with me again, or I’ll make you regret it very dearly,” he growled dangerously, ,,do you understand?” he snapped after a short pause and his fingers dug into her jaw quite painfully.

,,What? Are you kidding?” Roxy exclaimed in disbelief, in spite of how scared she was, ,,you were the one that...” 

Well, maybe he wasn’t… perhaps this was the right time to finally admit the truth. Time to face it. He didn’t put her under a spell… no, he really didn’t, for goodness’ sake, why would he…?

,,I was the one that what?” he spat angrily, his grip getting even tighter, making her gasp loudly in pain.

,,I... never mind. If you want to know, I’m not happy about what happened there either so how about we just forget it once and for all?” she suggested, hoping he would finally let her go. 

Ogron knew she wasn’t lying, the honesty and terror behind her eyes so visible that it was clear she wouldn’t just try to fool him. He realized his touch was causing her pain but he didn’t want to let go. Pain was exactly what she deserved, not only for defeating him twice but also for making him feel so fascinated, so delightfully enraptured by her beauty for that short moment back there… and perhaps not just then…

No, that’s enough. He won’t think like that. As a feeling of annoyed displeasure returned once again, he suddenly knew exactly what he had to do. Erasing the humiliating memory from her mind shouldn’t be hard, he had done it a lot of times in his long life and therefore already knew the spell like the back of his hand. Not even some of the most powerful magicians in the whole dimension were able to resist it, so that gave him confidence that the young, inexperienced fairy, so scared and helpless that she was almost trembling from fear in his presence right now, would not stand any chance. 

He touched her forehead with his fingertips, ready to deal with this bothersome nuisance as quickly as possible and then finally continue his mission to get what he really wanted, the dangerously powerful White Circle. 

,,Stop touching me, Ogron!” Roxy snapped at him and turned her head, hating the fact that there was no way for her to fight back, hating his touch with all her passion. If the magical chains weren’t holding her wrists attached to the wall, she would have probably already attacked him with all the power she could gather by now, completely careless of the unfortunate fact that he would absorb her rage, soak it up like water and turn it into his own strength. Who cares… she would do it anyway… she simply had enough of him, of every single part of him.

,,Now, now Roxy, be a good fairy and don’t resist, for the both of our sakes. I’m doing you a favor,” he said, enjoying his little mockery for a short while before focusing his energy on the spell.

Yes, it was going to work, surely it was. Such an easy solution to this little annoying problem, why didn’t he think of… 

No. That was impossible. He tried again. And again. Something wouldn’t let him. Her mind wouldn’t let him in, her memories shielded by something of an unbreakable, resistant, unyielding barrier, making it impossible of him to see them, touch them, mould them according to his will.

,,What...? This is not possible!” he said quietly, trying the spell again, feeling like a fool, it had no effect on her memory whatsoever.

,,Whatever you’re trying to do, stop it!” Roxy growled, trying to avoid his touch defiantly, ,,it apparently isn’t working anyway, so...,” she added teasingly.

,,Whatever,” Ogron mumbled, not willing to show how furious and surprised he actually was.

And then, suddenly… a different idea struck him. A tempting, delicious, sweetly dark, somehow tantalizing idea… 

What if he made her fall for him? What if he caught her in a delicately dangerous gossamer net of his manipulative charm and charisma, seduced her with sweet words and small touches that would leave her trembling vulnerably, what if he subtly crept inside her mind, made her let her guard down and broke her will without her even realizing it, so that at the end of his artful, cunning little game she would voluntarily lead him to the White Circle? 

_,,This is definitely not a conventional method to hunt down a fairy but why not…? I can’t say I wouldn’t enjoy seeing her fall head over heels for me, giving me her pathetic innocent heart, just for me to crush it and painfully tear it into pieces, leaving her not only completely heartbroken but also humiliated beyond measure,”_ he thought, liking his evil plan more and more each second. 

,,What?” her voice suddenly brought him back to reality, ,,thinking about some evil plan?” she rolled her eyes in a half scornful, half mocking way.

,,You have no idea, my dear,” he smiled and lightly moved his fingers from her forehead to her cheek, ,,I was just thinking a little bit... and maybe I had a change of heart. Why not finish our little... bonding? We were interrupted at the best part, weren’t we?”

He leaned towards her, trapped her body between his own and the cold stone wall, pressing his muscular chest to her soft, delicate one, gently and slowly, each movement calculated exactly according to his plan. He lowered his head and lifted hers with his palm in a tender manner to minimize the somewhat big height difference between them, meeting her eyes for an elusively short moment.

,,Stop it…!” Roxy tried to sound displeased, however her voice betrayed her, trembling very slightly but enough to make her words sound ridiculously insincere.

,,Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you,” Ogron whispered and his breath tickled her neck, sending a new wave of undeniably pleasant sensation through her body. He felt how she shivered and the corners of his mouth lifted in a small smile, could it really be that easy? He let his fingers ran down her neck, slowly and gently. She gasped. Quietly and almost imperceptibly but she did, and that could only mean one thing. She had no actual intention of fighting… 

_,,Oh, my lovely little fairy, you’re such an easy prey…”_ he thought, resisting the urge of letting a small chuckle escape his lips. 

As her quickened breaths and freezing shivers intertwined in a way fitting their intimate closeness, she begged herself to stop, to stop feeling, to stop sensing, to stop being aware of the enjoyment. This was wrong. 

Ogron loved the new control he gained over her so unexpectedly, he loved it instantly, it was so visible, she couldn’t hide it. As his fingers lingered on her neck for a while longer, he felt the heartbeat against his fingertips, realizing just how inexperienced and easily manipulated she was…

,,What do you want anyway?” she snapped at him all of a sudden, almost as if she could hear his thoughts, jerking away aggressively, ,,I’m not falling for your tricks!”

,,I told you already, my dear Roxy. I just want to finish what we started, since I don’t think I would ever be able to get you out of my head if we didn’t,” he softly whispered, his lips touching her temple, sending a few shivers down her spine again. Why did he have to be so close…? That made everything so inexplicably difficult. She had never felt so torn in her entire life…

Just when she started to realize, with quickly arising panic, that there was probably no way out of the situation she was in, she saw a quick shadow on one of the stone pillars opposite her. A shadow of a girl with wings. And then another, disappearing quickly as if it was just a phantom of her confused mind, elusive in the obscure light of the room. No, that was impossible. Could it be that...?


	9. Desire, Flames, and Ashes

Roxy's heart skipped a beat from excitement and new hope as she saw the shadow again, this time so clearly and undeniably as one sees a midday sun on a cloudless sky. Yes, it was not just a hopeful wish that obscured her mind, she was still sane and she saw what she saw. How was it possible, she didn’t have the faintest idea, however that didn’t matter at all. She had a chance to escape now, a small, elusive chance, almost completely dimmed in the foggy veil of uncertainty, but there was one. 

Her eyes wandered away from the pale face so close to hers for a split second and they captured a sight she hoped so much to see. A fairy with long hair that reminded of fire flew out quietly from her hiding place behind the tall pillar, letting her know with a few quick gestures that she should keep acting natural and not look into her direction.

Just a second later, however, she realized that acting natural in a situation she was in could be quite difficult. The distance between Ogron’s body and her own was already non-existent, his warmth in such contrast to the coldness of the wall she was bound to, his head lowered to meet her eyes and his lips so intimately close… 

_,,Oh great… what will the girls think?”_ Roxy thought as a soft pink hue slowly spread across the delicate skin of her cheeks, warming them up more than just slightly. But how could she fight it? How could she fight the hot, trembling sensation her entire body was drowning in thanks to the alluring closeness of her mortal enemy, how could she resist that irresponsible, shameless guilty pleasure? All she could do was hoping they wouldn’t notice… neither her friends, neither him.

And then an idea suddenly crossed her mind. Crazy and questionable for sure, but with a little bit of luck and a little bit of seductive cunning it could actually work. Who knew…? Perhaps she could have the same captivating effect on him as he had on her and all it would take would be an innocent, slightly daring try…

,,I know what you mean...,” she whispered, her lavender eyes giving him a look of intertwining shy coyness and challenging temptation underneath her long lashes, burning up with unexpected breathless excitement that made him her captive in that very second, ,,I think I wouldn’t be able to get you out of my mind either.”

He wouldn’t be able to take his eyes of her even if he wanted to. How was it possible… she was so desirably breathtaking when she whispered those sweet words, giving him a thrilling sensation of unexpected lust that slowly caressed his skin like soft fingers. So innocent and yet so tenderly seductive… that girl was a delightful paradox of two different sides combining into one prefect masterpiece. So flawless that she almost seemed like a chimeric dream for that short moment, almost intangible… oh, he would make her his, no matter what it takes… how were just a few words escaping those pink lips enough to enrapture him completely?

His thought were more something of an instinct that conscious ideas, and it felt incredibly good to let that instinct take over him for at least a short while… 

But enough of that nonsense. The day a little girl gains so much power over him as she apparently tried to, he’d rather die. No, he shouldn’t let her have _any_ power over him. This was _his_ game. And in his game, there was only one possible winner.

,,I’m glad we can agree on that,” he whispered and gently lifted up her chin again with his finger in a way that very much suggested what would follow. And she longed for that with an excruciating thrill of a forbidden desire. The feelings inside her were a stormy sea, confusing, exciting, unknown, a sweet torture she didn’t want to give up, not just yet. What a humiliating shame was it though… she despised herself.

Her friends could see her and she was completely aware of that fact, however some forces much stronger than guilt and embarrassment were controlling her at that moment, holding her in a crushing, suffocating grip. 

_,,Just kiss me already… please,”_ she begged him in her mind. 

However, he didn’t lean towards her to close the distance between their lips just yet, instead he let go of her chin and she suddenly felt his fingers traveling up her forearm up to her wrists, the soft, smooth touch causing a strange, yet not uncomfortable feeling in her lower abdomen.

Warm fingers intertwined with hers against the wall, hot, trembling breaths heating up the skin of her neck. 

,,I think I might let my guard down because of you for a while,” Ogron whispered softly, his lips touching her ear in a gentle caress, ,,but you’d better be a good girl and not try any foolish tricks.”

 _,,This is certainly more enjoyable than I thought it would be,”_ Ogron thought while his eyes subconsciously soaked up every single part of her small face decorated by the dancing light and shadows cast by the fire of the torches _,,and certainly easier as well. My sweet little fairy, you’re mine already…”_

,,I promise…” Roxy whispered as a hint of a smile appeared on her lips, subtly catching him in her trap more and more each second by her intense, yet still a little shy gaze until she was completely sure his entire attention was only focused on her. Despite everything she didn’t forget she was playing a game and she had to play it skillfully enough, because the price was her freedom, perhaps even her life.

He leaned so close towards her that their lips were almost touching and he couldn’t wait to finally close the distance between them completely. There was some sort of a delirious excitement inside his head, he didn’t understand it but neither did he need or want to… all that mattered at that moment was that her soft skin was like silk under his fingers, her scent was the one of sweet vanilla and strawberry, her gaze was a lavender field dimmed by twilight… 

And then, completely out of nowhere and so suddenly, he was blinded a by strong, painful light, so unexpected he couldn’t even figure out what was going on first. 

The next thing Roxy realized was that the warmth of his body was gone. Taken aback by the sudden attack, he wasn’t even able to absorb the damage, she noticed him lying on the ground a few meters away from her. 

The Winx took him by surprise. And that was just thanks to the fact that her little seductive game actually worked.

,,Stay away from her, you monster!” Stella shouted as the blinding light in her hands grew stronger and bigger with each word, until it was so powerful she wanted to take her chances again and attack him, before being interrupted by Bloom, whose dragon of bright fire trapped him in the hot flames even sooner. 

,,This was the final straw, Ogron, don’t you dare to touch her!” 

And even though the attack of the fairy of the Dragon Flame was undeniably stronger and more damaging, it was of no avail at all. It didn’t take much time for Ogron to realize what was going on, even though he couldn’t imagine how was it possible in the first place, but he didn’t have time to think about it, he quickly recovered and regained his strength by absorbing the raw, destructive force of the formidable Dragon Flame that he was hit by.

,,Why, thank you, Bloom, this was exactly the kind of a gift I needed,” he remarked with a sarcastic grin spreading across his lips, ,,even though I must admit, I’d definitely be gladder if you just stayed where you were… which brings me to a question… how did you escape, you weak, pathetic, miserable fairies?!” 

His amused, mocking voice changed to an angry outburst of annoyance and disbelief so suddenly and aggressively that Roxy subconsciously shivered from fear.

,,Maybe we can’t defeat you wizards in a direct fight... but we certainly can outsmart you,” Tecna smirked with confidence and exactly in that moment Roxy thanked Heavens that a genius like the Fairy of Technology was a part of the group. This was definitely her plan, whatever it would turn out to be.

,,Well, let’s see… I think you actually can’t do either,” Ogron, who seemed to calm down for a second, replied nonchalantly, but before anyone could even notice it, a dark cloud of smoke surrounding a dangerously looking purple lightning appeared in his hands, ,,let’s see if you can walk out alive from here today!”

Luckily though, this wasn’t the first fight the girls experienced, so thanks to their quick reflexes they managed to dodge the powerful attack and escape unharmed. Bloom quickly used the fact, that Ogron’s spell made the whole room even darker than it already was, the black smoke spreading to every corner caused it was almost impossible to see anything. So she quietly flew over to Roxy and formed a protective barrier around them without Ogron noticing.

,,Are you alright? Did he hurt you?” she asked as she used her magic to make the bonds on Roxy’s wrists and ankles disappear, her lips barely moving in the almost soundless whisper. Although she tried to hide it, she was scared. No, she wasn’t scared, she was panic-stricken from the whole situation. From the fact how strong Ogron was even when he was fighting alone, from the miserably slim chances they actually had when it came to saving Roxy, and lastly from the sight she witnessed, the closeness between the young pink-haired fairy and the cruel, wicked fairy hunter.

Bloom haven’t known Roxy for a long time, yet she felt like the two of them instantly formed a bond, the pink-haired fairy was like a sister to her, probably thanks to the fact that they were more than similar to each other in their personality traits and even shared a similar past of being raised on Earth without knowing anything about who they truly were. That was the reason she felt a strong protective instinct every time Roxy was in danger, and seeing her in this situation, she couldn’t help but felt fairly worried. Not even in her wildest dreams would she ever imagine the two of them painting such an intimate picture in front of her eyes, fingers intertwined, faces almost touching, bodies pressed to each other… she knew it wasn’t Roxy’s fault, she was a clever girl and probably just tried to attract his attention so that they could attack… but why would he let her? What's more, the small glimpse she caught of them and the look they exchanged could only mean two things. Either both of them were incredibly good actors, cunning and artful, each plotting their own scheme, or there was something completely beyond her imagination going on…

,,I’m fine, don’t worry,” Roxy replied, interrupting her crazy thoughts, ,,I don’t think I have enough energy to transform though, so you girls will just have to protect me. I’m sorry, I really am…”

,,Don’t worry about it, we’ll get you out,” a different voice reassured her and as she turned her gaze upwards she noticed the Flora, vibrant spells of nature and life already forming in her delicate hands and a second later becoming a part of the protective barrier, making it even stronger. 

,,You'll get her over my dead body! Which is not likely to happen…” Ogron smirked, already prepared for his next attack. The spell in his hands was initially intended for Bloom, but if the Fairy of Nature wanted to join the game… why not? 

His magic hit her so unexpectedly and quickly she didn’t manage to dodge it, nor make a protective barrier around herself. The next thing she knew was that she was lying on the floor, screaming in agony and excruciating pain, worse than she could ever imagine.

,,Stop, please, just stop it!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, a veil of tears covering her cheeks, hands buried in honey-brown hair, knees digging into the ground as if she wanted it to swallow her so that she didn’t have to experience the terrible torture anymore.

However her plea remained unanswered, as at that moment the door of the room flew open, revealing the other wizards, who quickly ran inside with shock and disbelief clearly written all over their faces.

,,What the... how did this happen?” Gantlos asked, unable to believe what he was witnessing with his own eyes. How was that possible? He had both the blonde and the black-haired fairy lying unconscious on the floor of his room, getting ready to drain their magic until nothing was left and tear their wings off, when he suddenly felt, just like Duman and Anagan, that Ogron has been attacked and rushed back down to the underground room where they kept Roxy. Just to find out they have apparently been tricked.

,,I should be the one asking that!” Ogron snapped at him, ,,aren’t you able to take care of a bunch of pathetic fairies?”

,,I’m ready to take care of them right now!” Duman smiled, despite his annoyance and raging disbelief that he had been outsmarted by some pathetic little girls with pretty wings. However, that didn’t matter so much at the moment, since he loved a good hunt, and what can make a hunt more interesting than a prey that kept avoiding his deadly claws?

Just as the images of defeated, powerless fairy bodies with clothes soaked in their own blood and wings torn off their backs began forming in his mind and filling him with the thrill he needed to feel to start the hunt, his eyes landed on Flora screaming in pain on the ground. An easy prey to satisfy his needs…

,,Oh… isn’t she pretty,” he smirked sadistically, ,,I like her wings… Ogron, would you mind...?”

,,Stay away from her! Morphix wave!” Aisha shouted, prepared to defend her best friend with her life, and sent a blast of her energy towards him, but he dodged it without any bigger effort.

Roxy noticed Anagan standing behind his brothers, surprisingly looking like he wasn’t enjoying the whole situation at all, especially Flora's suffering. He still looked reserved, almost nonchalant, but small, nearly imperceptible hints in his eyes suggested he would rather not witness what he was seeing, the hints of short glances with flickers of worry and discomfort hidden behind them and brow furrowing for a split second when his gaze wandered to the fairy dressed in pink clothes and black agony.

 _,,Unbelievable… could at least one of them actually have a conscience?”_ a quick thought crossed Roxy’s mind, _,,with everything they’ve done to us, however, I don’t see how that would be possible…”_

Her assumption was only proved by the fact that the dark-haired wizard didn’t seem like he was going to do anything to alter the situation causing him the hidden uneasiness, so she had to take the matter into her own hands. 

,,Leave her alone, Ogron!” her voice trembled a little, her lips letting out those words without her head thinking, which was necessary, since rationality could only kill the last remains of her small, terrified courage, ,,you just want me anyway, so stop hurting my friends!”

,,Forget it, fairy, we have you all here so we will do with you as we please!” Duman snapped at her.

,,Come on, Duman, don’t interrupt our guest,” Ogron smirked.

Everything went according to his plan. Of course she would say that… she was scared to death, terrified from everything he put her through, yet that brave foolishness he always knew she had inside her made it impossible for her to put the other girls through such torment, especially because she knew there was an easy way to avoid it… his eyes met hers again, this time under completely different circumstances than the last time, however one thing stayed the same. He still had power over her.

,,Tell me, Roxy, what do you think you should do to end your friend’s suffering?”

,,I told you you can have me!”

,,That’s a wrong answer.”

Flora’s screams were getting more and more terrifyingly loud each second. 

,,Stop it! I’ll let you have anything you want!”

,,And that means…?

,,I’ll lead you to the White Circle.”

A horrified gasp escaped from several lips the moment those words left hers. And still, no one said anything. It seemed inevitable that the Wizards would finally get what they wanted. An oppressive, cold silence filled the air with despair and turned it into a poisonous, unbreathable gas that seemed to suffocate everyone, tear their lungs apart with desperation and as a result making everyone helplessly mute. 

,,Clever girl… you see you know the correct answer,” Ogron’s mocking voice echoed in the room, tormenting her uneasy mind and torn conscience.

Was there really no way out of this…?

,,No! Roxy, don’t give in just because of his blackmail!” Bloom shouted, suddenly awakening from her petrified trance. Hope dies last… they couldn’t simply give up. Ogron and the Wizards weren’t the first enemy they faced after all.

Rage took over her as her hands began burning with bright, blinding flames. They were spiraling around her forearms and she felt their raw, destructive power fueled by the despair of one final attempt.

,,Don’t you dare to touch my friends, Ogron! Dragon’s breath!” 

Her attack was strong and violent, a fiery storm of burning rain shaking the entire room, almost causing the other Wizards to gasp from shock and surprise while they quickly created a protective barrier around themselves. They were immune to fairy magic, for sure, but this was something different. This was a spectacle of pure, mighty power. 

Ogron, however, didn’t seem impressed at all, although inside he had to admit the fairy of the Dragon Flame was rather outstanding. Well, the more power she can attack with, the more power he would gain…

He soaked up each drop of her magic with rising pleasure and enjoyment, yes, her powers were so delicious, so extraordinary, he felt the hot, dangerous fire in his veins and suddenly wanted to laugh. Now she really made him invincible.

,,After today I might really feel indebted to you, Bloom,” he grinned after she got so tired from her spell she couldn’t continue, ,,you keep giving me all the advantages you can…”

He wasted no time and released all the power Bloom’s fire gave him in a spell of vast darkness and deadly black flames that captured each fairy and inevitably made her go through a pointless fight until it also inevitably defeated them all, leaving seemingly lifeless bodies in bright clothes helplessly lying on the floor. Satisfied with the result, he turned back to the only fairy that was untouched by his wrath.

,,Now, where were we, Roxy? An exchange of the White Circle for the pathetic lives of your little friends? Sounds good to me… what do you say?”

After those words he deliberately made his still lasting torture spell even stronger, making Flora shout out at the top of her lungs.

,,Fine!” Roxy exclaimed, unable to even think anymore, ,,I’m giving up, just let them be, please!”

It was as if her words were magic, they immediately caused that the dark cloud around Flora disappeared, mercifully making her fall unconscious as her body hit the floor. Roxy couldn’t hold it in any longer, she let the tears roll down her cheeks and the loud, intense sobs shake her entire body.


	10. Blood and Hope

,,Pathetic,” Duman rolled his eyes, even though he enjoyed the unmistakable signs of suffering on the young fairy’s face, the crystal-like tears decorating her cheeks and the unnatural milky pallor of her skin.

,,But why am I even surprised, that’s all you fairies can do after all, whine and cry while you are losing one battle after another. I’m beginning to think that hunting such easy prey is no longer fun, don’t you think, brothers?” he continued, his mocking words unforgivingly digging into her ears and mind, making her drown in her misery, always sinking deeper and deeper.

,,Oh, let the girl be, Duman, she’s at least smart enough to make the right choice,” Ogron responded, slowly taking a few steps until he was standing right in front of her, his black leather shirt the only thing her eyes were able to meet. 

She couldn’t look at him, not when her eyes were filled with tears of fear and her body was trembling as if she was as scared little child left alone in a cold, hostile place. Who know, perhaps that’s exactly what she was… the only thing she knew for sure, however, was that she hated all of this, she wished it was a nightmare…

He lifted his hand and she expected to feel his magic binding her to the wall once again, since Bloom had managed to free her from the powerful magical chains. She was so sure she would feel the wicked, dark power tying her up again, that when she actually sensed a warm caress of tender fingers wiping away her tears she jumped a little from the unexpected surprise. However, she let him. It felt so good for some reason, although it shouldn’t… was she really so helpless against any kind of his touch…?

,,No… don’t cry, my dear, this isn’t even over yet. If you keep it up like this, you’ll have no tears left once we’re finished with you,” he said in a soft, compassionate whisper, the meaning of his words in such a twisted contrast to the way he said them.

As moments passed, each second made Roxy involuntarily let out let out a faint, scared sob again. She hated this. She hated herself for being so weak. She hated Duman for his cruel, mocking comments. She hated Anagan for letting the small spark of compassion inside him die so carelessly. She hated Gatnlos for being so indifferently calm about the entire inhuman torture. But first and foremost, she hated Ogron. For multiple reasons, but mostly for turning her life upside down, torturing her and her friends and being so nonchalant about that… because only a monster would act like this. 

Yes, that’s exactly what he was. Suddenly it felt like it all the desires of her body, so intense and heated just a little while ago, became completely insignificant in the merciless contrast to this obvious fact. The burning passion his touch had awoken inside her gradually began to change its nature, the flames of excitement and pleasure turning into the ones of hatred, disgust, and rage.

His fingers still lingered on her face, their soft touch of twisted compassion now losing all of the slight comfort it was giving her before, just becoming a cruel reminder of who he truly was. She jerked away from that touch, she couldn’t stand the idea of feeling it on her skin any longer.

,,What is it, my dear, I thought we made a deal,” he whispered quietly so that only she could hear him.

,,You touching me in any way wasn’t the part of the deal,” she snapped at him, still having trouble with fighting back her tears and just hoping her voice wouldn’t break any second. 

Instead of giving her some answer, his fingers grabbed her chin in a surprisingly rough manner and turned her face, so that she would look at her defeated friends lifelessly lying on the ground.

,,You wanted to save them, didn’t you?” his warm breath tickled her ear, ,,so, in case your noble intentions haven’t changed yet, I suggest you let me do whatever I want.”

,,You…you’re a disgusting monster,” she let out a quiet sob. At that moment she would give anything to have a chance to hurt him somehow, to return all the pain and humiliation he was causing her, but the reality was unforgiving. She was defeated and there was nothing she could do with that. 

,,I told you I’d lead you to the While Circle. What more do you want?”

,,Are you really asking me that? Isn’t it obvious?” he let out a small chuckle, turned her around and pressed her tiny frame against his strong chest, using the advantage of the fact that his brothers were too busy dealing with the fairies to look at them.

,,If you say me, I’ll make you regret it, mark my words!” and angry whisper left her lips as she tried her best to fight against the firm embrace of his arms, without any success.

,,You?” he laughed quietly as his lips formed into a mocking grin, ,,definitely not. That’s too vague for my liking. I want to _defeat you_. I want to defeat you, break you, get you to the point where you’ll _beg_ for my touch…”

He was aware of just how furious and humiliated he made her feel, and he enjoyed it beyond measure. He enjoyed it for one simple reason, because he could almost feel the angry storm raging inside her, he could touch her hot temper with his fingers and soak up every single part of it, soak up what made the two of them so similar, their mutual passion and anger, so raw and so destructive... 

The easiest thing to do for her would be to let the anger consume her right at the moment when those words left his lips. However, she decided not to give him the pleasure of that sight, suppressing all of her urges to fight even more. 

After a while she finally decided to ignore the humiliation and lift her gaze, her eyes searching for her friends and hoping that when she meets theirs, they wouldn’t be full of disappointment and disapproval. She exchanged a short eye contact with Tecna, however her face didn’t reveal even the slightest emotion. Who knew whether that was a good or a bad sign… 

Her gaze wandered around to find Stella, she wanted to let her know that she was really thankful for her brave action when she decided to attack as the first one, and perhaps also express regret for not always thinking about her in the best way, which she, of course, had no idea about, but still. 

However, no matter how hard she tried, her eyes couldn’t find her. And not only her. Aisha was missing as well. But all the Wizards were there, they couldn’t have taken them away. So that could only mean…

,,I’ll take the Nature Fairy away,” Anagan’s suggestion suddenly echoed in the room, ,,we can decide what to do with her later.”

Roxy had to fight the urge to suddenly lift her gaze in surprise, since showing the least emotion possible would probably be the smartest thing to do in her situation. However, even with her eyes stubbornly staring into the ground, she probably couldn’t hide the worried disbelief written all over her face. Why would Anagan care for Flora this much? Was it one of the Wizards’ cruel, evil plan? But if it was, why would the strange, almost inexplicable concern appear for that one short, evanescent moment in his face covered by dancing shadows, while Ogron tortured her? 

,,Do what you want with her, for all I care, she’s all yours,” Ogron waved his hand dismissively, already knowing what his brother’s intentions were. Even if he didn’t understand them and disapproved of them first, the centuries spent with his brothers already taught him that trying to change any one of them in any way is simply a waste of time. 

,,I’ve got my eyes on a much more interesting and valuable prey,” he added quietly, his gaze incessantly lingering on Roxy’s trembling lips and wet cheeks. 

The soft, orange light in the room made her tears look like ambers, there was a certain beauty in them. Although for some reason, seeing those little gemstones on her face and hearing the quiet sobs, that were desperately trying to remain unheard, suddenly made him feel somehow strange, almost undecided. He always enjoyed seeing a fairy scared and broken, however this sight gave him nothing, no enjoyment, no thrill, just some indifferent, neutral emptiness. It was a little annoying, when he thought about it.

As Anagan picked Flora up in his arms and took her away, Roxy’s mind was full of incessant, contradicting ides about his intentions. Well, whatever they were, it was pointless thinking about them. It wasn’t like she could do anything at the moment, since her only hope was now feebly based on a fact that there was still no trace of Stella and Aisha.

,,Now, Duman, Gantlos, I suppose you’ll manage to take care of these weak little fairies, or…?” Orgon asked, his serious tone mixing with slightly mocking sarcasm.

,,We won’t let you down,” Duman smirked.

,,Again. You won’t let me down again,” Ogron corrected him with a harsh snap and turned back to Roxy, ,,meanwhile I’m going to deal with our lovely Fairy of Animals, and I’d say we’ll need a more little privacy… don’t you agree?” his last words were a whisper meant only for her ears, to scare her even more than she already was. 

,,Oh, I’ll show you some privacy! Hands off, you monster! Sun storm!” an angry voice suddenly filled the room before a wave of strong light blinded everyone around, like a knife painfully digging into their eyes, leaving the Wizards taken aback from the unexpected attack. 

,,And think twice before you call us weak, Ogron! Morphix net!” Aisha’s shout followed right after, her spell hitting Ogron, tactically before the blinding light started to fade out, trapping him in ropes of pink translucent liquid and bringing him down to his knees. 

,,I’ve had it with these pathetic bitches!” Duman shouted, his burning rage strong enough to tear the whole room apart, ,,I’ll kill each and every one of you in a way you didn’t imagine even in your worst nightmares!” 

,,Perhaps if you talked less and thought more, you’d be able to figure out that your enemy has a plan B,” the corners of Tecna’s mouth lifted in a weak, but scornful smile.

Roxy noticed one of her fists was closed. And that was no coincidence. After a while, bright blue rays began forming around her fingers, rapidly growing stronger and stronger until they were twisting around her wrist and her entire arm, their power source hidden securely inside her palm. She slowly loosened her grip, her fingers opening slightly and then…

For a while she couldn’t see or hear anything. There was just this strange sound that actually didn’t even feel like it was coming from outside, more like from inside her head. It was definitely not pleasant… it felt like it was going to tear her brain apart if it doesn’t stop soon. Then she finally saw something… but it was all blurred… however the sight seemed familiar…

,,Quickly, Roxy, we need to hurry!” 

That voice was coming from a great distance. But she knew it. Someone grabbed her hand and she followed. 

She recognized the mahogany-brown waves and the soft, dark complexion of the person leading her away. She didn’t know what was happening and why did she feel so strangely numb, but if Aisha could get her out… oh, goodness, she just prayed she could get her out and finally, _finally_ end this endless nightmare…

However, her entire body was suddenly hit by something, her head painfully smashed against the floor. Her shoulders felt like they would soon break under the heavy pressure of something that kept pushing them down into the cold stone ground. 

The blur in front of her eyes somehow disappeared, as if the impact had actually awoken her from that strange trance, and she could see everything clearly again. She gasped in shock when she realized two golden eyes of an enormously huge dark wolf were staring right into hers with so much vivid, fiery hatred that she already felt like she was a goner. 

He showed his terrifying teeth in a hungry growl and she only expected to feel them sinking into her flesh in a second… 

,,Morphix wave!” 

Aisha’s shout gave her a little hope that she might be saved, however the monstrous wolf above her wasn’t affected by the attack at all, as if his thick fur was able to protect him from any kind of a spell. The next thing Roxy heard was her friends’ scream as she ended up smashed against the wall by one of Gantlos’ destructively powerful seismic waves.

She was all alone again… so she only had one choice. Fight for dear life in one last desperate attempt…

,,You’re not going anywhere!” Duman growled and when she tried to use her magic to fight him, he lifted one of his paws and not even a second later she found herself screaming in pain caused by his long claws cutting through the skin and flesh of her chest.

,,Lion’s roar!” 

Her shout and the power filling her veins were a desperate animalistic instinct, barely conscious, as if something inside her, bigger and stronger than her mind, was fighting for her life in a passionate, wild fever of a resistance. 

She didn’t even exactly know how she blasted Duman straight into his chest and made him hit one of the tall stone pillars.

He let out a painful groan, turning back into his human form.

,,You will regret this!” he shouted and in a split second he used his magic to teleport himself behind her, then he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against his chest, trapping her with his hands, one of them on her waist and the other across her chest. Roxy tried to fight but she was no match for his strong muscular arms. 

The next thing she realized was more pain, this time coming from her throat, as Duman's long, sharp, animal-like fangs sank deeply into her flesh. Her voice filled the room with a high-pitched wail, that for a short while made everybody’s blood run cold in the middle of a fierce fight. 

,,Well, you might be a troublemaking bitch, but I’ll give you one thing,” Duman smirked and he pulled away from her neck, ,,your blood tastes delicious.”

She gasped and her face turned into a shade of deadly pallor. Her breathing became impossible to control, a shaky, rapid, intense exchange of air between her lungs and the room around her, she noticed the blood spilling out from her neck in what almost seemed like waterfalls of vibrant crimson, contrasting to her white skin in the most horrifying color combination she could ever imagine.

Then Duman suddenly used his shapeshifting powers again, turning himself into a black snake that wrapped itself around her tightly. He bit her again, this time with even longer teeth, filling her blood with an undoubtedly dangerous poison.

The agony was too much… this was probably the end.

Just when Roxy thought she was going to lose her consciousness and give up for good, she felt a hand catching hers but instead of trying to attack Duman, the person used a different spell. She suddenly felt that the wizard’s suffocating grasp wasn’t around her anymore and for a split second she found herself in a cloud of intense white and purple light. It was so strong that she had to close her eyes to protect them but when she opened them again, even if her vision was blurred, she knew she wasn’t in the dark underground room with the wizards anymore.

,,Roxy, Roxy, do you hear me?” a familiar male voice filled with urgency asked, yet somehow it felt like it came from a great distance. She was barely awake because of the enormous amount of blood she lost, so she didn’t even know who was the person asking her.

,,Come on, Roxy, say something!” 

She realized she was held by someone and slowly recognized the purple clothes and the eyes of the same color, and at that moment she knew who was her savior. 

,,Nabu...,” she gasped, her voice filled with pain, ,,get the girls back to safety as well, I’ll be fine...”

,,Don’t worry, the girls are safe. They are here,” Nabu responded in a soft, calming voice, ,,but we need to take care of you first.”

Roxy wanted to reassure him she would be fine, in spite of all the pain she was feeling and all the blood on the floor around her, however she didn’t manage to do that, since her consciousness was gradually leaving the outside world to wander into the vast, comforting darkness.


	11. The Beautiful and Damned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! I decided to write a short note to this chapter, since this one is a little different than the previous ones. This chapter is going to be about Flora and Anagan, a little additional ship I planned to add to my story, although at this point I have no idea whether it's a good idea and whether I should really write it. I would probably want Anagan to have feelings for Flora without her requiting them, but I'm honestly not sure... so let me know what do you think, if I should add this as a side plot or not (well, I probably will add it, but I have no idea how much should I focus on it, whether just a little bit or more, like maybe writing some chapters about the two of them etc., I really don't know). 
> 
> And also, thanks a lot for all your kudos and comments, they really inspire me to keep writing :)

Anagan rested his head against the big comfortable armchair he was sitting in and closed his eyes for a second, letting the last rays of the sun gently caress his face while he enjoyed the feeling of a lazy idleness, the least he deserved after the long, somehow bothersome and tiring fight.

His eyelids were getting heavy and he gradually began to feel the temptation to let his exhausted body get the much-needed rest, however despite all the weariness he knew he didn’t want to. He somehow made himself open his eyes again, just to see the reason of his stubborn abnegation of a blissful sleep. 

She was lying there on his bed, the Fairy of Nature, so desirably beautiful in the dim, warm light shining through the open window and coloring her honey-brown hair in different shades from light blonde to auburn, the tempting allure of her delicate figure and tantalizing fresh flowery scent hit his tired body as a wave of vibrant, lively excitement, making him completely forget his previous intentions of getting some rest.

His eyes slowly travelled along her small frame, absorbing every detail, every curve, enrapturing him with that picture of a perfect, delightful beauty. He wanted to touch her, he wanted to caress that soft, tanned skin with his own fingers, not just with his eyes, but for that he would have to wait until she’s finally awake.

He knew what he did to such beautiful fairies was shameless. But why should he care? 

_,,You always pick the most beautiful flowers from the garden, that’s why they die first. One of the reasons why beauty is so desirable is that it’s evanescent, it never lasts forever,”_ a thought he heard somewhere crossed his mind subconsciously, perfectly intertwining with his desire.

 _,,Then one might as well pick the flower before it wilts,”_ he thought, adding his own contribution to the unremembered author's idea.

The centuries he had lived had been too long, too exhausting, too meaningless. Most of the time he felt like nothing even really mattered, because everything would fade away sooner or later, and this subconscious belief also made him convinced that making the most pleasure, selfish and shallow, out of his long days wasn’t even really that bad. Because that was the only thing keeping him alive. Taking beauty and making it his. 

His brothers wanted to hunt fairies for revenge, but he really didn’t care that much about that, he didn’t even care for ripping off their wings and killing them. He wanted their bodies, beautiful, alive and satisfying, because somehow at least that forbidden union made him feel the only thing he was living for. Pleasure. Keeping himself on life support by taking away the innocence of their youth and making it his. 

He didn’t even really think of himself as evil or twisted for making love to somebody against their will. He wasn’t a good person either, for sure, he saw himself more like somebody who is... somehow morally grey, probably. He didn’t hurt them with the intention of hurting them, just to stay alive. Most days he felt like a goner. Because his years were too long and dull and what he really wanted was just to feel the passion of wanting something, _anything_ , again. It wasn’t really his fault that only fairies, young and beautiful, could provide him with that feeling...

Her body moved slightly, the soft dark blue covers sliding off her body completely, revealing even more of that tempting skin. 

_,,Oh, poor little fairy,”_ he thought as he felt the breathless excitement taking over him, _,,why must you be so irresistible? You leave me no choice like this. You were constantly in the back of my mind since the first day I saw you...”_

Her eyes opened slowly, revealing their bright jade color hidden underneath her lashes. She blinked a several times, still half asleep, trying to figure out where was she and what was going on.

The gaze of those light green eyes, still covered by a veil of sleepy drowsiness, travelled from the bed she was lying in to the high celling and big windows, somehow still managing to avoid him, even though he was sitting right next to the bed.

Then, out of a sudden, she winced and sat up so quickly as if something had attacked her unexpectedly.

It was the sharp, sudden realization of danger after her memories started to return, the horrifying memories of the torture, of so much cruelty and deadly agony...

,,Relax, there’s no need to rush anywhere,” he chuckled quietly, stood up and put his hands on her shoulders.

Flora almost let out a scream from the unexpected voice and even less expected touch, turning around abruptly just to find out the person, whose hands rested on her shoulders, was nobody else than the tall wizard with dark skin and almost black, braided, tied up hair.

The terrible memories lost their significance in a split second when she realized this was probably his room. She was in his room. In his bed. For some unknown reason, unknown yet, however she had a strong intuition it wouldn’t remain a mystery for a long time. And she had a really bad feeling about that, a feeling of ominous threat that creeped up on her as his eyes slowly left hers to travel down to her lips, her chest, her abdomen, hips and legs, as if he tried to absorb every inch of her body with some kind of a enthralled fascination.

She pulled away instantly from his touch, determined to show no fear and get some much-needed answers.

,,Where are the others? What have you done to them? What have you done to Roxy?” she asked, trying so hard to sound confident, despite of how scared she truly was, looking straight into the dark abyss of his somewhat mysterious eyes.

,,One would think you’d like to know where are you and what are we going to do with you,” he smirked, sitting down on the bed next to her, only to see how she pulled away even further with cold hostility written all over her face.

,,Answer my question,” she said in a quiet, icy voice.

,,I really don’t think you’re in a position to demand something right now, or do you feel like you are?” he asked with something of a bored indifference in his voice, not mocking her or trying to scare her, just stating a simple fact.

She didn’t like the way he was looking at her. There was too much interest, too much admiration, maybe even something of a lustful desire... no, she couldn’t think like that. She was in danger for sure, but maybe she was just so scared she could only imagine the worst possible scenario regarding his intentions. 

However a moment later she realized something that made his lingering gaze even more uncomfortable. She almost gasped in shock when she looked down on her body and saw that she was only wearing some sort of extremely small shorts and a black crop top, both pieces of clothing barely covering what was most necessary to cover, quite unsuitable for a conversation with a man who was almost a stranger to her. She was basically in underwear.

She quickly grabbed the cover on the bed next to her and covered herself, only to find an amused smirk playing on his lips when she looked at him again.

,,You didn’t have to bother because of me,” he said, gentle irony mixing with an almost flirtatious tone in his entertained voice, ,,I was really enjoying what I was seeing so far.”

A soft but visible hue of rosy pink spread across her cheeks rapidly after hearing those words and she could actually feel their embarrassed heat, which probably made them turn even a few shades darker. She didn’t know how to respond, although she wanted to say something so much, something that would stop him from ever saying things like that again and stop him from looking at her with those eyes undeniably filled with desire. But instead of speaking up she just sat there, blushing like a little girl, it was really so frustrating that the right words kept eluding her, seemingly intangible and distant. She lowered her gaze in embarrassment, really annoyed with herself.

,,Why, you must know how beautiful you are,” he whispered softly, lifting his hand and gently turning her face back to look at back him, ,,or doesn’t your boyfriend remind you often enough? I could help with that...”

She jerked away from his touch again, her heartbeat becoming so fast she felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest any second, the fear already taking its toll on her. She knew what he wanted. There was no denying it and what was even worse, she had no way to resist. Her powers and her entire body were so weakened, she was still in pain and she felt like making even the smallest movement required enormous effort and strain. She was in no condition to fight a wizard with such intentions... 

This was so wrong. He couldn’t take something like that away from her. It wasn’t his to take. Her innocence, still pure and untouched, was something she kept for someone else, someone who, when the day comes, would promise to love and cherish her forever, and she knew who was that man.

She felt the panic quickly arising somewhere inside her chest that began clouding her mind heartlessly. No, she couldn’t allow that to happen. If she couldn’t fight him with magic or physical force, she would have to fight him with her mind and words. But how…?

,,Thank you for your concern, but Helia is doing a good job even without your help,” she answered his question with scornful irony, quickly improvising to keep up the conversation with him until she would somehow find a way out of this quite terrifying situation. 

,,Oh, yes, Helia… he’s a lucky boy to have such a beautiful girlfriend,” he stated in an unbothered tone of a casual friendly chat, ,,or at least he was, until now. Since now I’m going to take something of his.”

She found herself unable to respond after such an unexpectedly blunt statement, she thought he was going to hide his intentions in some empty, meaningless flirtation at least for a while longer. Flirting with him might have given her a little advantage of gaining some more time, however it didn’t seem like he was going to give her that opportunity. This was hopeless from the beginning, why even bother…?

,,Why?” she asked, unable to think of some more elaborate question, her voice breaking a little, and she immediately hated herself for looking so weak. If this was going to happen, she should at least try her best not to lose her dignity before he took care of that for her. 

,,What do you mean why?”

,,Why do you want to do this? You are supposed to hate fairies, torture them, kill them, that’s what you do, isn’t it? Why would you want this? Or is _this_ your way of torture?” 

Her voice was trembling slightly and she felt the tears forming in her eyes despite all the effort of trying to hide her paralysing fear. Her sight was soon clouded by the small drops that slowly rolled down the delicate skin of her rosy cheeks.

He was quiet for a while, just sitting there, not responding to her question as if he didn’t even hear it, and after s few more seconds that felt like an entire eternity, she was already sure she wasn’t going to get her answer.

Then his lips opened slightly, letting out a small sigh.

,,I was actually never asked that question,” his voice was unexpectedly formed into those few words, with some hardly describable emotion mixing into them.

,,Then I suppose I’m not the only one who you…” she paused, feeling the still lasting fear intertwining with uncomfortable embarrassment. 

,,No. You’re not the first, neither the last.”

,,So will you answer me?”

He went silent for a while, as if he was thinking about how to put his reasons into words, that could explain them somehow.

,,Because beauty is evanescent. It’s lives for a while, but it’s just a short, elusive moment. I’ve already watched too many beautiful things fade away and that only taught me one thing. That if you take their allure and make it yours, even if you kill them while doing it, you get at least something of it, just a little, impermanent spark of pleasure, but it’s better than noting. Yes, they die sooner, but at least this way their death gives you joy, not just some worthless sorrow.”

She expected everything but an answer like this. The words came out of his mouth like a wave of sincere honesty, like the words of a man who had nothing to hide, because hiding anything would be just as absurd as telling the truth, which at least gave him an opportunity to reveal his thoughts that were probably never spoken before. 

The truth was she didn’t actually expect him to have a reason, at least not one so elaborate. She was taken aback, definitely, but this confession gave her a chance for the conversation which could buy her some time. Maybe she could figure something out in the meantime. Or maybe just delay the inevitable.

,,So you think killing something beautiful is meaningful because it would die anyway and this way it at least gives you something to enjoy?”

,,Something like that. I’m surprised you got it, I didn’t expect someone so… young to understand.”

,,No, I don’t get it,” she spat somewhat angrily, ,,I’m just repeating you own words. I think it’s despicable to think of it in such way. With a mindset like that, you can take anything and carelessly make it yours, even if you have no right to. You say that beauty dies, fades away, and so over the time things which had it become valueless. But have you ever thought about that in a way like maybe beauty doesn’t die, it only changes, and becomes invisible for the ones who are willingly too blind to see it?” she asked, unable to suppress the indignant anger. 

She was the Fairy of Nature, so such an opinion was completely against what she believed in. Things in nature die as well, flowers wilt, the leaves from the trees fall off, but that doesn’t mean they become worthless.

,,You have an interesting mind, Fairy of Nature,” he chuckled almost imperceptibly, ,,but I still disagree.”

,,That’s because you’re too selfish and too heartless to understand. You say beauty is worthless because it dies, but that’s a lie,” she said in a quiet, cold voice.

,,I say beauty is worthless because it's impossible to preserve it. So I make the most of it while I can.”

,,It’s not impossible. What would our memories be for, if it was?” 

The corners of his mouth lifted in a small smile. He didn’t expect her to be able to have such conversation with him. For someone so young and inexperienced she sure had some stubbornly firm opinions. However, what surprised him the most was that the last thing she said was actually undeniably true. He would probably have to admit his defeat at this point…

,,Beautiful things grow to a certain height and then they fail and fade off, breathing out memories as they decay. And just as any period decays in our minds, the things of that period should decay too, and in that way they’re preserved for a while in the few hearts like mine that react to them,” he said, as he remembered this quote from a book he read some time ago, a quote quite incredibly fitting for their conversation, since it seemed to connect their two seemingly opposing opinions perfectly.

,,… did you just agree with me?” she asked in a tone of a careful, quite bewildered disbelief.

,,I’d say someone else just agreed with the both of us,” his lips let out a quiet laugh.

He didn’t even realize how did it happen, but something inside him changed. His previous intentions, his need and his lust all disappeared somehow, melted away in their words of mutual disagreement and contrasting opinions. Somehow fulfilling his plan that he had when he brought her up to his room seemed strangely unfitting, seemed almost… wrong.

There was a conflict inside him in that very moment when their voices became silent and no more words followed, just the oppressive atmosphere of tension in the room seemed to touch their every sense, and he gradually became aware of that strange sensation of feeling torn. He never felt like that. He always knew what he wanted and wasn’t thinking much about it until he got it. 

His calm, decisive, selfish mind was shaken and stirred like water, and as a result it felt like an almost unknown force controlled him and his actions when he heard his voice saying the words he couldn’t believe he would ever let out of his mouth.

,,I always knew there was something different about you. And now you fascinate me even more… I want you to go.”

,,What?” she asked with a shocked, sudden disbelief in her voice. 

He couldn’t mean that. This was definitely just some wicked game he was playing with her. 

,,You heard me. I really suggest you go before I change my mind…”

He lifted his hand and made a dark cloud of black smoke appear in his palm. That made Flora gasp from shock loudly, she still vividly remembered how a spell looking exactly like that almost tortured her to death probably just a few hours ago…

However, he didn’t direct it on her, instead he hit a wall opposite of him, making the dark smoke spread almost all over it rapidly. After a few seconds the shimmering, ominously looking dark glow disappeared, being replaced by the familiar sight of the living room in Roxy’s house, the image now slightly trembling behind a translucent barrier of dim light.

Was this a trap? It could be… actually, it had no reason _not_ to be. Because realistically, what were the odds of Anagan simply letting her go when he could have her, right there and right then, what could be the reason for a fairy hunter to help his enemy instead of destroying her or performing the despicable deed of his dirty intentions? 

,,I won’t wait forever, beautiful. Go now or stay. But if you stay, don’t expect me to continue our little talk… I have something quite different in my mind.”

He didn’t know himself why was he giving her this chance, not just giving her a chance, no, he was insisting that she would leave.

Those words were enough to convince her, since even the faintest idea of what might happen if she didn’t leave was scaring her to death, she stood up from the bed and took a few steps towards the portal, wishing that his words were true, wishing that her trust in him wouldn’t be misplaced…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the quote from this chapter that Anagan said, it's from the book The Beautiful and Damned from F. Scott Fitzgerald (hence the name of the chapter, lol) :D


	12. Shaken Beliefs

The moment she left, the moment she mustered up her courage and carefully made that step to cross the portal he had made for her, the room became incredibly empty somehow. The quiet dusk behind the big windows turned from pleasantly peaceful to ominously eerie, the cold wind ruffled up the long, dark silky curtains and it seemed like she took away the last warmth of the day with her. 

Anagan sank into the soft mattress, his head resting between two pillows, all of his senses suddenly being reminded of her presence that still seemed to linger there somehow. His sheets smelled like her, that tender, flowery scent would probably haunt him forever from now on. He breathed it in and tired to imagine she was there, in his arms, in his bed, united with him more intimately that she would allow him, if it was her choice. He enjoyed that fantasy… and he didn’t at the same time. Because it wasn’t real.

What on Earth did he do? How did he let that happen? He knew he wanted her, he knew it from the first time he saw her. He always thought she was so extraordinary… and she only convinced him about that during their short conversation, and now, as the result, he didn’t just want her body. He wanted to get to know her mind too. However that didn’t mean he didn’t want to touch her in the first place. 

Anyway, the strangest thing about that all was that he actually truly and undeniably wanted her. In the past when some fairy, that he felt the need to share his bed with, somehow escaped him, which didn’t happen often, he simply didn’t care. He told himself he would find a different one and forgot for good. But now… no, he _had_ to have her. He would have no peace until he finished what he started. This was completely unlike him…

His short contemplation about his own somehow confusing desires was suddenly interrupted when the door of his room flew open and revealed his youngest brother, who stormed inside with clenched fists and rage written all over his face.

Anagan didn’t even bother to get up, he just supported himself on his elbows to shoot a short, annoyed glance to the pink-haired shapeshifter, who was furiously making his way towards him. 

,,You idiot! Couldn’t you wait until we were finished?! They escaped! They escaped and you weren’t even there to help us fight them, because you just _couldn’t wait_ to…”

His voice went suddenly silent in the middle of his angry outburst, the shock of realization that the only fairy he thought they still had in their hands was apparently gone made all the words elude him for a short while. 

,,Anagan… where is she?” he asked, the strain in his voice to make himself sound at least a little calm more than painfully apparent. 

Anagan knew that if he told him, his brother would probably rip his head off. And truthfully… he wouldn’t even blame him for that. Yes, what he has done was nothing else than an absurd, ridiculous foolishness. 

,,She’s gone,” he let the quiet, inevitable words escape his lips.

,,What… what do you mean she’s gone?”

Duman felt like he was in a nightmare for entire last two days. First, they have been defeated by that little helpless Fairy of Animals, then he picked a fight with Ogron and ended up defeated for the second time, not to even mention his brother’s heartless harsh words and the apology that he felt was somewhat insincere, and lastly, all of his possible prey simply escaped, including the last fairy on Earth, thanks to the help of that annoying pathetic magician. 

And now this… how was it even possible?

,,What do you mean she’s gone?!” he shouted so loudly that probably even Ogron and Gantlos, who were nowhere near the room, had to hear him.

,,I mean what I said,” Anagan responded calmly. He wouldn’t lose his temper just because his little brother did. Anger was Duman’s natural state in which he somehow constantly existed anyway.

Duman took a deep breath, desperately trying to steady his nerves. After all those years he already knew that furious shouting and hot temper never actually got anything out of Anagan, so if he really wanted to find something out about this inexplicable, unpleasant situation, he would have to try it in the… calmer way. This definitely wasn’t going to be easy. Who knows how long would it take until his forced patience runs out…

,,Why did you even bring her up here? Don’t tell me you again wanted to…”

,,Yes, of course I did. What did you think?”

,,Oh, fuck it! You disgust me!” the shapeshifter lost his temper in a few second, his previous noble intention of peaceful calmness disappearing abruptly, washed away in the wave of his boiling blood filled with contempt and wrath. 

,,You’ve told me that at least a million times, dear brother,” Anagan responded with a clearly unbothered indifference in his voice.

Even though the two of them considered themselves brothers and somewhere deep inside cared for each other just like they were real family, or at least that’s what Anagan was strongly convinced about, not often would something in their mutual interactions actually suggest the presence of some family affection. If there were two wizards from their group who were the least alike and shared the least opinions, desires, attitudes, and motives, then it would undeniably be the two of them. Duman longed for blood and suffering. Anagan lived for his lust for beauty. Duman enjoyed the cruelty that he considered a rightful revenge. Anagan drew his every breath as a desperate plea for passion that he found in the soft skin of the same creatures his brother craved to torture and kill.

The youngest wizard never tried to hide his displeasure and contempt for his brother’s desires. Anagan was the last one to join them, his magic being strong and powerful enough to convince Ogron that it was a good idea to let him join their hunt for fairies. Their leader never cared much for his motives, it was enough that the new wizard proved to be quite skillful when it came to capturing his enemies and tearing their wings off, his ability of supernatural speed and agility making it significantly easier for him than for the rest of them. 

In the beginning Duman tried to convince Ogron that Anagan’s reasons of joining them and his following intimate actions with the captured fairies disgraced their quest for revenge, the revenge they all except for the dark-haired wizard craved so passionately. And Ogron understood his brother’s indignation, however he kept insisting that the new wizard stayed, deaf to the protests of the young shapeshifter who was his closest family, claiming that he was too young and his thinking too irrational and clouded by pride, to understand. This left Duman feeling betrayed and outraged beyond measure, however since Ogron was their leader, and also the only person he respected and admired almost without any question or doubt, he obeyed him and let go of his anger. Or at least he tried to. 

It took long years, but gradually contempt turned into cold ignorance, ignorance into quiet respect, respect into meaningful friendship, and finally that friendship into the shocking and completely unexpected mindset, in which he truly acknowledged him as one of his brothers. 

Or at least that’s what Anagan firmly believed in.

That, however, changed nothing about the fact that he knew his actions in Duman’s eyes were still completely wrong and pathetic.

,,Did you really have to do that?!” Duman snapped at him after a moment of silence and uncomfortable tension lingering in the air.

,,We had this conversation so many times that I’m not even going to answer that,” he rolled his eyes and sat up on his bed.

,,Alright, then regardless of the fact that your perverted needs are disgusting, could you explain why the heck did the fairy disappear into thin air, and even without ending up in your bed?” he asked in a little calmer voice, remembering what he had to do to get the answers. 

,,She _was_ in my bed.”

,,But you didn’t sleep with her.”

Anagan turned his head in a quick, sharp movement, just to meet the golden eyes that were still regarding him wrathfully.

,,How do you know that?”

,,Oh, come on. Did your lust cloud your mind so much that you completely lost the last remains of your ability to think?” Duman mocked him with a sardonic smile playing on his lips, ,,I’m an animal just as much as I’m a human. I can smell the scent of their bodies from yours every single time you have sex with them. It’s incredibly revolting if you ask my opinion… but that really doesn’t matter now. Just tell me, finally, what happened here.”

Anagan waited a few seconds, thinking about how should he say those words, how should he excuse what he did until he realized there was no excuse, so the simplest, least eloquent way would probably be the best.

,,I let her go.”

The silence that fell upon the room and mixed with the bright rays of moonlight that shimmered on the floor made the already tensed atmosphere feel undeniably dark and dangerous. Duman's golden eyes glowed in the cold light somehow too intensely, the flickers of suppressed rage behind them suggesting that he was truly putting some great effort into staying calm and not venting out his anger on his brother right at that very moment by attacking him mindlessly, which was definitely what his instincts were telling him to do, to finally let the angry beast out, since this really felt like the last straw in the series of failures, that seemed to mock them during the events of the last two days constantly.

,,… why?” he asked quietly, his eyes wandering away to the silver night behind the window. 

,,I… don’t know.”

Anagan’s voice sounded just as helpless and broken as he truly felt. He was never ashamed for his actions and he never regretted what he did. Now was the first time the in long years that he actually felt something disturbingly close to humiliation and he desperately wished that the incessant, uneasy reminder of his failure left his mind somehow, just disappeared into the void of some dark oblivion and died there forever. Because for him, there was never any need to feel ashamed for getting what he wanted, that was all he lived for and other people had no say in that matter. However now the anger and disgust of his brother seemed justified. Because he not only gave up what he wanted, succumbed to this quiet, vague voice of his long lost conscience, but also he let go of a useful weapon they could use to blackmail the rest of those fries, and he let it go without any obvious reason. 

Surprisingly enough, his words weren’t followed by an aggressive explosion of raw anger or by any kind of an instinctive violent action. Duman’s eyes stared into the void of the starless night in a quiet, peaceful observation for a few moments, and when the turned back to him, they were unexpectedly empty and emotionless, their vibrant, unique color seemingly turning a few shades darker.

Without any words he turned around slowly and made a few steps towards the door, as if he intended to leave him there, realizing that his brother’s own guilt was already the worst punishment he could receive for what he did.

However, just as his feet reached the doorstep he turned his head back slightly, without even bothering to look at the dark-haired wizard properly.

,,I don’t understand what you did, but you know what? It doesn't even matter that much. I never understood you, I never liked you, I could never fully accept you or respect you. I tried my best during all these years, I tried because of Ogron and because of the fact that at the end of the day, you helped us reach our goal. But you’ve never really been one of us. Or do you feel like I’m wrong? You never cared for the same things that we do, you never shared the same opinions. You think that I’m pissed because you let us down today? No, my dear _brother_ …” he chuckled scornfully as he spat that one word as if it was poison, pausing for a short while and taking an angry, little shaky breath. 

,,I’m pissed because you’ve been letting us down for centuries and nothing ever changed or is about to change when it comes to that. Because you believe in nothing, you value nothing, you want nothing for real. And believe me, if it was up to me and not up to Ogron, you would not be one of us for a day longer. I _never_ considered you family. I never will. You think you have earned my respect, but that was just a necessary pretense.”

His voice was surprisingly calm and his demeanor unexpectedly composed. And that’s exactly why his words felt like sharp knives digging deep inside Anagan's chest.

,,… I think I have nothing more to say at this point. I wanted to let this out for a long time, so thank you for finally giving me the right opportunity,” the pink-haired wizard sighed as the words, that felt like they were suffocating him for years were finally spoken, and quietly left the room in a blink of an eye, completely uninterested in what his brother’s reaction might be.

If Anagan’s guilt wasn’t enough to make him feel completely miserable, this definitely was. He knew Duman enjoyed being sadistic and cruel, he enjoyed the suffering of the others just because he could, however he also knew he would never hurt his family without a reason. His unforgivingly honest words weren’t just an outburst to vent out his rage. They were the truth. The way he said them left no doubt about that. 

And that hurt more than he thought it could. Anagan was always the one that seemed not to actually care about anything or anyone, however that was as far from the truth as possible. He went through a lot of suffering and misery, he used to have nothing and no one, until he finally found his new family and got a new life. And even though there were some undeniable differences between him and his brothers, he still felt like they accepted him as one of them, initially because of the invaluable help he provided them in their hunt for fairies, and later because of the bond that inevitably formed between all four of them, a bond much stronger than one that would be born just from sharing the same blood. 

_,,You believe in nothing, you value nothing, you want nothing for real…”_

Duman’s unforgiving words still lingered in his ears, that sharp, honest voice still torturing his mind. However, at the end of the day… his youngest brother was right. 

Was he wrong all those years? Could Duman actually also be right about him never being one of them? Did Ogron and Gantlos feel the same way but they just never bothered to tell him? Was the only family he ever had never his family at all?

The questions began to torment him ceaselessly all of a sudden, like a waterfall of loud, screaming concerns, yet the answer, that he could be convinced was undoubtedly right, seemed to heartlessly elude him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone! I just want to write this short note at the end of the chapter to inform you that, unfortunately, I will probably not be able to update every day from now on, since the chapters I've uploaded were already written, I just needed to make some corrections and edit them, but now I've run out of these chapters, so it might take a few days to update each new chapter :( (although tomorrow I might still manage to upload a new chapter, since it's almost done:) )
> 
> I will really do my best to write new chapters as quickly as possible, I'm currently working on this fanfic almost all day everyday, but it's not easy so for me, since I'm not a native speaker, so I suppose new updates should come in intervals from 2 to 4 days.
> 
> Thank you for all your support again, don't forget to check for new chapters since I will be posting them :D (even though not so fast, I'm really sorry :( )


	13. Weak Little Fool

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Roxy knew she was safe. She had been saved, she remembered that. However, nothing felt safe. Lying there on her bed, in some kind of a strange, unknown trance, that her friends considered just some sort of a several days lasting much-needed sleep, was one of the most terrifying experiences she has ever had in her entire life. 

There were times when she could her friends’ voices, varying from fairly worried to comfortingly calming, when she could feel the familiar softness of sheets around her and even sense the pleasing warm light coming through the open window and gently caressing her face. The times when she had all of this, when she felt the solace of the present reality, were all she wished for, were the temporary best thing she could imagine. However, those moments were just short, evanescent flickers of light in the vast, dark, ominous void, where her mind constantly seemed to wander off after just a few minutes, or even seconds, of this desperately needed comfort.

Most of the time her mind and her senses were incredibly far from the warm safety that embraced her body. She found herself back _there_ almost constantly. A never-ending, horrifying, excruciatingly realistic nightmare, flowing in her head like a ghastly stream of what seemed to be her memories, crashing into her consciousness like a deafening waterfall of terror and agony. 

She saw the blonde wizard’s cold silver eyes filled with satisfaction as his spell of raw, destructive seismic wave hit the girl who was trying to save her, throwing her against the wall with a cruel force that probably broke some of her bones… She saw those cruel, golden eyes filled with sick pleasure as the wolf above cut into her flesh with his long claws, deeply and incredibly painfully, she saw the twisted amusement in his face, now in its human form, when he sank his teeth into her throat and heard her scream… She saw her friends' lifeless bodies lying on the ground, defeated, helpless, humiliated. She could do nothing to help them. She saw a man with dark skin and black hair taking away the most gentle, kind-hearted girl she ever knew, and her mind screamed at her to stop him, because whatever his intentions were, it definitely wasn’t anything innocent… 

,,Roxy… Roxy, can you hear me?”

She tried to grasp that voice, hold onto it for dear life and never let it go, since it came from the outside…

,,I’m beginning to be really worried, Nabu. Shouldn't she be able to wake up already? She’s been sleeping for days and…”

The voices began gradually slipping away and she wanted to scream, to cry, to wail in desperation, beg them to stay… she couldn’t go back again. If this continued for a few days longer, she’d lose her mind and go insane for sure…

It was to no avail. She was back again. Why was this happening, why was her helplessness against her own mind killing her like this? 

However, now, for some unknown, mysterious reason, it felt the just like before but different at the same time. She couldn't see faces of the three wizards that kept torturing her for days. It was just the black darkness mixing with the occasional flickers of the dim, orange light and grey smoke of the fire burning in the familiar room. It was empty. She had no idea whether that was a good or a bad thing, but what else could she do than wait and see…?

,,It seems like I don’t even have to try so hard to break you...”

She heard that voice and wanted to turn around to face the person, who let out those words. She knew who he was. Not this, she begged desperately in her head not to be made to go through this… there was only one solace in her suffering. That he was somehow never there. Until now…

She wanted to turn around but she couldn’t. He was already holding her, her back pressed against his chest, the familiar warmth spreading across her body like fire, his arms around her waist imprisoning her in his embrace against her will by muscles firm like stone…

,,I’m disappointed, I must say. I thought you are stronger than this, my darling… but you are such a terrified mess already. I guess you’re just a weak little girl after all…”

His words were a scornful, ironical mockery, however the way he said them made shivers run down her spine, and definitely not in the unpleasant way. His voice… oh, goodness, she felt like she already forgot how it sounded. She missed that sweetly dark, temptingly alluring whisper that caressed her temple and her hot cheek, she missed it so much that when she heard it again, she wasn’t even able to comprehend the meaning of his words, she just enjoyed that sound and drowned it in willingly and with so much pleasure… 

He lowered his head and his lips gently brushed against her hairline, then travelled to her temple and to her ear…

,,Ogron…” his name involuntarily escaped her lips in a quiet sigh of desperately torn feelings.

One of his hands let go of her waist and slowly travelled up her arm, the burning sensation his fingers left on her skin making her conscience scream loudly at her to tell him to stop… however, her lips remained closed, not letting out even the smallest form of protest, she was hopelessly mute as all she could do was to enjoy his skin against hers, slowly trapping her in the pleasurable gossamer of those light touches, making her feel like she was drowning inside some kind of an unspeakable, unimaginable miracle… 

The raging war of emotions he started inside her in just a few seconds seemed too unbearable, she had to do something about it, she had to stop it before it drove her insane…

,,Please, leave me…,” she gasped quietly as his lips almost touched the soft skin of her neck, turning her head away slightly, because she could only imagine what would a touch like that do to her, how would it cloud her mind with that unacceptable delirious delight even more… 

,,Please?” his lips let out a somehow displeased scoff, ,,are you _really_ begging me already? I thought you were stronger than this, I hoped you would at least try to put up a fight… but you’re truly so weak… a weak little fool. And guess what, my darling?” he asked in a quiet, low voice as he leaned towards her neck anyway, his lips _so_ close to her skin, close enough to torture her with that burning need, however deliberately _not_ close enough to satisfy it, ,,I don’t have any interest in nor any patience for weak things…”

His hands let her go so abruptly, pushing her away, that sudden, not exactly gentle movement feeling like it was not only stripping her of his warmth that she craved so intensely, but also of her still stubborn and fiery pride, that kept ceaselessly lingering somewhere inside her. 

Well, perhaps that was a good thing, now that he wasn’t holding her she could at least think straight… and finally understand the meaning of his scornful, shaming words. How dared he…? No… there was no way she would ever let him treat her like that. She wouldn’t let her humiliate her anymore. Calling her weak? Calling her a terrified mess, saying that she wasn’t strong enough to face him?

He turned around and seemed like he was going to walk away without even the slightest remains of the interest that heated up his blood and stirred his desires just a few seconds ago. Oh, she would show him whether she was weak…

Before he could even take his first step, she turned around and grabbed his shirt, holding the black leather firmly in the grip of her fists and no allowing him to go, the blood in her veins boiling from the sudden hot anger.

,,I’m _not_ weak. Don’t you call me like that _ever_ again!”

She didn’t know herself why was she so outraged. This was far from what she would have done under normal circumstances… Was that anger of hurt pride something he had created inside her, or has it always been a part of her, lurking somewhere inside her soul and just waiting to be awaken without her knowing anything about its presence?

,,Now, that’s what I wanted to see,” his lips formed into a small, somehow satisfied grin, his hands immediately catching her waist and pulling her towards him in a sharp, abrupt movement, his eyes soaking up the fire behind hers with pleased excitement. 

That’s exactly what he hoped and wished to see. Oh, she was just like him, they were so alike it was almost hard to believe… she had that vain pride inside her, there was no doubt. It was shockingly strange how could a fairy be so similar to him…

,,How is this even possible?” she asked him, ignoring his comment, ,,how are you in my head? I know this isn’t real, I know I’m home, lying in my bed and this is just some sort of a weird dream… why are you doing this?”

,,Because I can,” he responded with a smirk, leaning closer towards her lips, tantalizing her senses with the proximity that had such a satisfyingly visible effect on her, ,,and because I know you _want_ me to. I know you want to succumb to me…”

,,How _dare_ you?!” she shouted, her burning anger taking over her even more when his words continued to ceaselessly mock and humiliate her dignity, that unfortunately already seemed fragile and feeble enough.

She let go of his clothes and lifted her hand with an instinctive intention to hit his chest as hard as she could, however her movement was stopped in mid-air, his hand catching her tiny wrist with a grip so firm she almost let out a loud cry of pain. 

,,Stop denying it! You’re just making a fool out of yourself!” he said with a surprisingly harsh snap, so unexpected and sharp that it made her jump a little from the shock that mixed with the unpleasant pain.

She hated herself for allowing herself to look weak again, although involuntarily, but that didn’t matter. She couldn’t let him see her like that under any circumstances, it was a matter of dignity and self-respect… 

,,Oh, look at yourself again. You might try to look strong and bold, my dear, but you’re only a scared, pathetic little girl, just like the rest of your fellow fairies,” he stated quietly with sardonic disgust in his voice, provoking her now only for his own entertainment, since he was already convinced his words weren’t actually true.

,,Oh, really?” she whispered and looked straight into the cold abyss of his icy eyes, determination and stubbornness written all over her face as she already knew what she was going to do to wipe that shaming smirk of his lips, ,,do you think a scared, pathetic little girl…”

Her fingers travelled up his strong arms in a soft, smooth, caress, her eyes were shimmering with flickers of bold, seductive provocation that almost drove him wild and made him lose all of the strained, fragile control he had over his body. No… he wouldn’t let her win, he would rather die than allow her to gain so much power over him, no matter how alluring she was…

,,…would do this…?” she asked in a slightly trembling whisper as she rested her small hands on his neck from both sides, gently pushing herself even deeper into his embrace, slowly and with hardy restrained eagerness.

Her eyes weren’t leaving his even for a split second, her lashes were casting a dark shadow on her rosy cheeks and the intimate light of the flames danced in her hair… she was breathtaking. He had never met a fairy like her in his entire long life, so fearless, so recklessly bold, so irrationally impulsive… somehow so strangely perfect. 

Her lips were carefully closing the distance between the two of them, carefully but determinedly, in the dimly enlightened dark room they somehow gained a tantalizing shade of deep red wine, and he just couldn’t wait to see if she truly had enough courage to…

Suddenly she stopped, allowing uncertainty to take over her, her reason screaming at her to stop, and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t just ignore that desperate voice inside her head. 

,,Do it,” he commanded in a quiet, somehow taunting whisper, ,,do it, if you dare…”

 _,,Oh, you bet I dare,”_ she answered him in her head, feeling how the hot temper and powerful desire washed over her in a new, crushing wave that gave her all the courage she needed. 

She wouldn’t beg him for his kiss in her mind as the last time. Never. She would unite their lips herself…

,,Roxy? Oh, Roxy, please wake up! Say something!”

She opened her eyes slowly, unable to comprehend what was going on, why did everything around her disappear so abruptly, why couldn’t she feel his touch anymore, and why did she suddenly see so many faces through her blurred vision, whose was that voice that woke her up from her blissful nightmare and why…? A split second was all she needed back there, all that was parting them, just one small split second…

,,Roxy! Can you see me?” a worried voice asked in a tone of somehow restrained mild panic and after a while she finally recognized it, as well as the fiery red hair of the person leaning over her.

,,Bloom?” she asked, unable to suppress the disappointed confusion in her voice.

,,Yes, it’s me,” her friend sighed in relief, ,,oh, you can’t imagine how happy I am that you’re finally awake! We’ve been so worried, you’ve been sleeping for days and there was no way how we could wake you up, we tried everything…”

,,I.. I’m fine, don’t worry...”

,,I’ll go get the others. They will be so glad to see you’re finally awake…”

,,No!” she shouted somehow too desperately. She definitely wasn’t in a state to face everybody out of a sudden. Just a few seconds ago her mind was in an entirely different place, consumed by burning touches and shameless desires, preparing her to do something completely wrong and unacceptable… she would be lucky if she could hide the blatant excitement, that turned her blood into fire, from one person, not from all of them…

,,… why not?” Bloom turned around quickly with a fairly unreadable expression.

,,I… I just need to have a little privacy, I guess,” she responded bluntly without thinking, ,,I mean, I just woke up and I’m really not feeling so well, I just need to relax a bit, you know,” she added quickly, feeling the almost paranoid fear that whatever she would say might reveal what should definitely stay hidden…

,,Yeah… sure,” Bloom responded in an understanding way, but an expression of some hardly describable discomfort that appeared on her face for a short, elusive moment made Roxy’s heartbeat quicken rapidly all of a sudden. She couldn’t know, could she…? No, no way, she should really stop being so unreasonable, or her friend might actually notice something was wrong…

,,Listen, Roxy,” Bloom sighed after a few seconds of somewhat absurdly uncomfortable silence, ,,if you don’t want others to be here anyway, I might need to ask you something. I definitely wanted to ask you in private… it’s not a conversation others should hear.”

Roxy was sure her heart was going to beat out of her chest right at that moment. The way she said those words, that worried, serious voice and that expression of a grave concern appearing on her face all of a sudden… it could only mean one thing. She begged her in her head that she wouldn't ask that question, that she wouldn’t let any more words out of her mouth…

She remained silent, her eyes refusing to meet the intensely blue ones of her friend. What an ironical coincidence, how mocking was the fact that she actually wanted to look into blue eyes, she longed for it so desperately, however the shade in her mind wasn’t the one of a cloudless summer sky, but the one of cold, impenetrable, mysterious pallor of ice that hid the flames of passionate craving underneath that frosty gaze…

,,Roxy… I know you might not want to speak about it but I have to know. And it’s the best if I know as soon as possible, so please, I beg you, tell me the truth. Please don’t hide anything, I promise I won’t tell a soul.”

 _,,Here it comes…”_ she thought as she lifted her gaze to meet her friend’s, trying to give an impression of some confused bewilderment, as if she didn’t have the faintest idea what Bloom might be talking about.

,,It there something between you and Ogron that I don’t know about…?” the red-haired fairy asked in a careful voice, realizing that if the answer to this uncertainty is “no”, she would now look like a complete paranoid fool in front of the young fairy, but at the same time hoping for this answer so desperately like her own life was depending on it.

Bloom realized her concerns were probably just a result of some foolishly overprotective instinct. Realistically, there was no way, no reason for her to worry. It’s not like it’s possible to fall for someone so wicked, sadistic and cruel after all… who would ever fall for a villain? How could a fairy feel attracted to a dark wizard? Things like that simply don’t happen, so everything would be fine…

However the memory of the two of them, the inexplicable intimacy radiating from their bodies that seemed so heated she could almost feel their warmth, the tension of such a vivid, raw attraction, the look of that feverish fascination reflecting in the eager eyes of both of them… for goodness’ sake, who was she trying to fool? There was no way this wasn’t real. So much passion couldn’t be pretended…

,,Are you kidding me?” Roxy let out a small, ironical laugh, hoping she had at least _some_ talent for telling blatant lies, ,,the only thing the two of us share, that you maybe might not know about, is our mutual need to see each other six feet under. Seriously, Bloom! How could you _ever_ think something like that! I hate that man, he turned my life upside down!”

,,I know, Roxy, but I saw you two back there and I don’t think…”

,,Oh, that?” she asked, pausing for a short while to steady her nerves ,,don’t speak about it. Ever. Again. I did what I had to do and you know it, so don’t rub it in!” she shouted furiously, this time her feelings truly as enraged as she tried to look, making any pretense completely unnecessary. 

As if what she was going through was wasn’t enough, as if her torn desires and uneasy conscience didn’t try to torture her to insanity already… now she had to listen to their always perfect and morally incorrupt leader, who would definitely give an entire speech about how necessary was it for her to take care of her own safety and other nonsenses similar to that.

,,Hey, I didn’t mean to make you angry,” Bloom sighted, trying to look calm and composed, although her friend's angry outburst definitely left her taken aback. This wasn’t like her. One more reason for her to suppose her suspicions were right…

,,I just wanted to make sure you realize what kind of a man he is. He’s dangerous, Roxy. He’s an epitome of a villain, a personification of evil and cruelty, believe me, I would know, since he’s not the first dark wizard I’ve encountered in my life. You have to realize that no matter how it looks, he will always only care for one thing and he won’t stop at anything to achieve his goal, and since you’re the only thing separating him from what he tries to have…”

,,Oh, please Bloom, spare me this speech, would you?!” she snapped at her, unable to listen anymore to the words that were so terrifyingly true and undeniably accurate, feeling like her head would explode if more reminders of the unforgiving reality were going to make their way into her already fairly guilty conscience.

,,I told you it was nothing, didn’t I?! There is nothing between me and that sick bastard, I would rather die than to fall for him!” 

She heard her voice and somehow subconsciously realized it was a lot more outraged than probably ever before in her life, the desperation taking its toll on her so mercilessly, she didn’t even know anymore, whether she was spewing shameless lies or saying the honest truth about how she really felt. Perhaps both. 

,,Calm down, please! I’m not accusing you of anything, I just want you to be honest with me!”

,,I _am_ honest with you, for goodness’ sake! What exactly in my words is so hard to understand that you still keep repeating the same nonsense?!”

This definitely wasn’t the Roxy she knew. Bloom was always aware of the fact that the young pink-haired fairy had a bit of a bad temper, but it was never so shockingly apparent and filled with boiling rage as now. Yes, she must have been exhausted and still traumatized from all the things she’s been through just a few days ago, however such a reaction was still hardly appropriate for someone who claimed she had nothing to hide. 

,,Alright, then let me be honest with you for a change,” the Fairy of the Dragon Flame said, trying hard stay calm and restrain her indignation, however unfortunately failing at this point, ,,I think your words sound _exactly_ like the words of a person who’s in denial! If what I was saying wasn’t true, why so much anger? Listen Roxy, understand that all I’m trying to do is to protect you, but I can’t to that if you keep saying these… these miserable lies! I saw you two back there and that was enough to convince me that what you’re denying is true. Please… I’m not trying to judge you,” she sighed, trying to regain her calmness after her short outburst, ,,just let me help you…”

,,That’s enough!” Roxy heard herself shout furiously, completely unable to control herself at this point already, ,,are you deaf, Bloom?! I’m not going to repeat that again, there is _nothing_ between us and if you ever ask me again or suggest that I’m denying something, you can get out of my house in that very moment, actually you can get out of my life as well!”

Silence fell upon the room like a dark veil of a breathless, confused shock.

,,… then all I want is that you explain one last thing. Why was it his name that you were whispering from your sleep just a few minutes ago?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, tbh, I rushed this chapter a little so I feel like it didn't turn out so well as I wanted it to... sorry :(


	14. Sea of Red

After those words she couldn’t take it anymore. It felt like her body was making a radical decision without even trying to consult her mind as she found herself running away, slamming the door behind her and not looking back, sprinting away in a breathless overdose of her own suffocating confusion and humiliation, drowning in the tears of despair that blurred her sight and rolled down her cheeks against the harsh, cold wind in the forest close to her house where her exhausted legs subconsciously carried her after just a few minutes of running. 

If she could find peace somewhere, it was there. It has always been there, this wasn’t the first time she ran away, leaving her home behind to steady her nerves in the quiet embrace of the trees, although she couldn’t remember if she was ever running away from herself and her own mind before…

After she barely managed to restrain the flood of her tears caused by the fiery eruption of her emotions, after she finally steadied her quickened breaths of shaky panic and regained the sanity that she felt she was loosing so quickly, calmed by the fresh, earthy scent of the forest, it was like she couldn’t even control her own body as some almost mysterious force brought her down to her knees. 

She felt how her fingers subconsciously dug themselves into the soft ground, finally something pleasant after all she’s gone through in the last days. The soil was quite damp, it was probably raining not so long ago, and she realized she was barefoot, her legs already dirty from the wet layer of earth. Who cares… it felt so good anyway.

She started feeling a sudden urge to lay herself down on the cold ground, so that she could soak up the calming, imperturbable tranquility of the nature around her completely, with every single inch of her body.

When she slowly let her back, her legs and her head touch the pleasingly cool ground, she even subconsciously enjoyed the chimeric idea that the pure, innocent, yet powerful force of the nature surrounding her could somehow wash away the guilt from her mind, the self-reproach from her soul and the remains of the phantom touch of warm fingers from her body…

,,You should have stayed where you were, little fairy...”

She almost let out a terrified scream when she heard that voice, getting up from the ground as fast as possible, her eyes almost too scared to lift her gaze and meet those cruel, glowing, golden ones that she knew were already looking at her with so much sadistic, bloodthirsty hunger…

,,You really think we were finished with you? That pathetic little trick that magician performed to get you out didn’t save you from anything… because I’m still _far_ from being satisfied,” Duman smirked, his animalistic instincts already excruciatingly craving that thrill of the savage hunt, more than excited that Ogron decided to waste no time and let them continue what they started as soon as possible.

,,I doubt a bloodthirsty beast like you could _ever_ be satisfied,” she growled angrily, although she realized that provoking the shapeshifter might not be the best thing to do in her situation, however her swirling, wild emotions, anger mixing with fear, humiliation and despicable desire, made her unable to control her own words, her mouth letting out exactly what her mind always thought. 

,,Oh, would you look at that, brothers?” the wizard’s lips formed into a mockingly amused grin, ,,our scared helpless little girl can actually speak and not just whine and cry pitiful tears…”

As he said those words, he quickly teleported himself behind her and before she could even try to react, pull away or scream, one of his hands was already pressed against her mouth and the other one holding both of her wrists behind her back in a grip so painfully strong that she felt like it was going to crush her bones if he wouldn’t let go of her soon.

She tried to fight, desperately struggling against his strong muscles in a pointless resistance as he was dragging her away, apparently enjoying every single second of her weakness and distress.

,,You think I will never have enough?” he laughed, his sharp voice mixing with her gasps filled with pain, ,,you are absolutely right, although for now I think the sight of your blood on my hands would be all I need by to feel properly satisfied…”

She suddenly found herself on the ground after his hands threw her down forcefully, her knees digging into the damp earth again and her hair dirty from the soil falling in front of her eyes, covering her sight for a few seconds. 

,,Oh, come on, Duman, that’s quite enough,” she heard an irritated, strict snap, shivers running down her spine after hearing that voice, ,,we all know you love to torment little fairies and scaring them to death, but I think we agreed that this one is mine…”

She refused to look up as she saw him squatting down in front of her, she refused to believe this could actually be happening again. This time they wouldn’t let her leave, this time no one would save her and who knows what might happen if she need up in Ogron’s hands after everything that happened between them, all alone, helpless and vulnerable, he could do _anything_ …

,,… or don’t you agree, my dear? Long time no see… I can’t wait to finish what we started.” 

She wouldn’t answer, she wouldn’t even look at him. His voice was cold and cruel, without any trace of the trembling desire, the presence of which was so apparent and undeniable the last time they had spoken together. The ambiguous meaning of his words left the other wizards apparently without any suspicion, since they must have had no idea his words were ambiguous in the first place. How was it possible he was so good in hiding his lust for her in front of his brothers, who knew him for long centuries and still probably suspected nothing, while she couldn’t even convince one fairy that her feelings for him were non-existent?

,,Anagan, Gantlos, tie her hands,” he commanded as he stood up despite his need to look at her defeated, yet still breathtakingly beautiful face for at least a few moments longer, ,, this time we’ll make sure we get what we want, and that no one will ever be able to find and save her.”

,,Oh, I hope you’re prepared to go through hell once we lay our hands on you,” Duman couldn’t hold back his intimidating growl, enjoying the little wince of her small body, a sharp, small movement that tried to remain unseen, however quite unsuccessfully.

She felt Gantlos’s hands roughly grabbing her and making her stand up, and the first thing she saw was Duman taking a few steps towards her, until he was so close theirs chests were almost touching. 

Roxy knew she couldn’t hide her fear around him, it was pointless to even try. This man was a perfect monster, savage, brutal, ferociously sadistic and insanely determined to get through anything to achieve what he wanted. It was a sure fact that the only thing separating her from his hungry wrath and her painful death in his claws was Ogron’s strict and firm no when it came to deciding whether his brother would have the privilege to be the one to take her life.

,,So scared already?” he teased her, ,,just wait until we’re finished with you. I can guarantee you that before we mercifully decide to grant you your death after your desperate begging and pathetic screams, I will personally make sure you will see everything and everyone you love die in front of your eyes, slowly and painfully, you can then consider it a revenge for all the problems you caused us, you miserable, troublemaking bitch!”

Of course she had no words to respond to such a terrifying threat that made her blood run cold more and more by each word that left his lips with twisted pleasure. All she could do was hoping was strong enough to hold back the burning tears of fear that relentlessly tried to push themselves into her eyes and humiliate her even more…

After a few seconds that seemed like an entire eternity Duman finally took a few steps back to allow Anagan to grab her wrists and tie them with magical bonds that would make it impossible for her to use her magic. In Duman’s presence she felt too horrified to even utter a single word, absolutely convinced that she would only get herself into more trouble if she did, however after his menacing proximity finally left her and she felt the touch of the dark-haired wizard, who took away one of her best friends the last time she saw him and did who knows what to her, she felt her impulsive fiery temper taking over her again.

,,What have you done to Flora?” she asked quietly, resignedly letting him bind her wrists, wanting nothing else at this point than the small solace of some much-needed assurance, that her friend’s fate wasn’t as cruel and horrible as hers was probably going to be.

Anagan lifted his gaze immediately after she said those words, his already dark eyes somehow gaining an even deeper intimidating shade of a hollow black abyss, his hands suddenly stopping their previous activity as if her question turned them into stone.

,,What have you done to her?” she repeated her words, this time louder and with barely restrained anger.

,,He did what he does to all fairies,” Duman’s mocking voice answered instead of his brother’s.

,,And that is…?” she continued demanding her answer, her eyes staring straight into Anagan’s so intensely, as if she truly wished and believed a look could kill…

The shapeshifter took a few steps closer, placing his hand on his brother’s shoulder, who for some reason didn’t look comfortable in this situation at all.

,,Let’s just say my dear brother likes to enjoy the company of young, beautiful fairies in a little different way than the rest of us… a little more _intimate_ way, I’d say…”

Anagan could vividly imagine the evil, wicked smirk playing on his brother’s lips at the moment he said those words. This deliberate lie wasn’t meant to protect him from Ogron’s wrath, that would sure be inevitable if he found out what he truly did to Flora, it was simply meant to torment the young fairy, who has proven to be one of their most elusive prey, it was meant to drive her insane with anger and desperation, make her suffocate in hopelessness before they would end her. Oh, his little brother sure was a vile, wicked, crazy thing… why did he care so much for being his family anyways, when this man was nothing else than a rouge animal with no heart and no conscience?

,,You… you’ll pay for that! How could you…?!” 

Roxy’s scream suddenly interrupted his thoughts, that now just as during the last few days seemed to constantly wander off to this exact question. 

She couldn’t help herself when she found her body struggling against Gantlos’s crushing grip with which he held her arms, she couldn’t _not_ fight after finding out what she just did. Did those men truly had no boundaries, would they truly do _everything_ , that was wrong, immoral and shameless? 

This was the last straw. It didn’t matter at all that it was a pointless fight, she wouldn’t go down without it for the world. If she could get at least one drop of their blood, she’d be satisfied, feeling that she did everything she could to take revenge for her friend…

The next thing Ogron saw was an explosion of intense while light, so raw and powerful that as the wave of painfully blinding rays hit him with its brutal force, he ended up thrown against a thick trunk of a tall tree several meters away. 

His vision was blurred all of a sudden, the shocking, unexpected impact torturing his body with sharp pain and a strange sound that he couldn’t identify, he had no idea whether it was coming from the outside or from inside his head. What on Earth did just happen… for some reason the barely conscious state he was in and that mysterious power that caused all of this seemed strangely familiar, like an intangible, distant memory…

The strange noise in his head was suddenly suppressed by a loud cry of pain. He knew that voice… it was Duman. 

That sudden realization was somehow all he needed to fully regain his focus and consciousness, jumping to his feet abruptly, ignoring the tormenting pain. The realization of that pain was inessential, unimportant, it would gradually fade away in the wave of his raging powers sooner or later, however his brother was apparently in trouble, so that fact immediately became the only significant reality he needed to focus on. 

He noticed him lying on the ground just like Anagan and Gantlos, however meanwhile the other two wizards seemed like they suffered no serious injuries from the mysterious attack, Duman’s chest was red, cut deep into the flesh, blood spilling out on his black clothes, damping them in the vibrant shade of bright, crimson blood.

His instincts were mindlessly screaming at him to run towards the hurt shapeshifter, help him somehow, something inside him couldn’t bear to see him in so much agony… however then he noticed the young pink-haired fairy, her body trembling slightly on the ground, already on her knees, looking at her hands with her eyes filled with shock and relief at the same time. Her hands that were still glowing with that shimmering while light… 

,,I will kill you for this!” Duman’s voice echoed in the cold, empty forest, his rage seemingly making everything around fall into a trance of deadly, tensed up silence, as if the nature itself was petrified from the threat of the wizard’s wrath. 

Roxy had no idea what was going on. She did it once again, it was that strange power flowing through her veins, shining out from her palms… but how? What was it? Why did it feel like she couldn't control it at all? When her eyes fell on Duman’s body on the ground, curled up from pain and the deep wound she involuntarily gave him, she felt incredibly petrified all of a sudden. However, what he said made her blood run cold, since something in his voice suggested this wasn’t just an empty threat like all the times before…

Despite all of his pain, Duman stood up with an incredibly determined effort and growls filled with anger, turning himself into a giant wolf. Being in an animal form made any kind of physical suffering somehow more bearable, and that was necessary, since nothing could stop him now, not even the fact that if he continued loosing blood as fast as he was right now, he would probably fall unconscious in just a few short minutes or perhaps even seconds.

He sprinted towards her, ready to kill her, tear her body apart in his long claws, see the life fade away from those lavender eyes…

,,No! You won’t ever lay a finger on me, you monstrous beast!” 

Anger mixing with fear, instincts taking over her actions, the hot, raw power intoxicating her senses once again… this time she _had_ control over her actions as she blasted him once again, straight into the deep, bloody wound on his chest. No more… he wouldn’t ever touch her again…

His screams filled the forest with an almost unnatural, terrifying wail for a second when he fell on the ground… and then he went silent. So abruptly, so suddenly… 

His pale body painted by the red blood, now in its human form, lay lifelessly on the cold ground, without making the slightest movement, without letting out the smallest sound…

All she could hear was the sound of her own heavy breaths. 

_,,Please, no…”_

She was breathing… but the air around her seemed to be suffocating her. 

_,,Please, please no…”_

If she could exchange hearing her own breaths for hearing his, she would do it in a heartbeat. No hesitation.

_,,No, please, not this…”_

He was a monster, yes. But what did it matter?

_,,God, please, no, don’t let this happen…”_

What did it matter if his blood was on her hands? How could she ever look at herself in the mirror again? How could she ever look into anybody’s eyes and see her own reflection without the guilt driving her insane? How could she ever close her eyes and get a peaceful sleep without having nightmares that would smother her under a dark veil of deep, deep, red… of thick blood turning always darker and darker, filling her lungs and making it impossible to scream…

Would she try to grasp her sanity by appeasing her conscience in a desperate denial, hiding behind the some kind of a shameless mask of moral superiority, convincing herself that the world would be a better place without a brutal, merciless beast like him anyway, would she repeat that mindless mantra until she actually believed it? Would she try to wash her hands, let the drops of that blatant hypocrisy cleanse her red fingertips, justifying her deed by the sea of blood he had on his, willingly forgetting about the fact that he was a human being as well, someone who had a life, who had friends, family, who had his own story, that he was a creature who could feel, feel happiness, joy, misery, anger, desperation, who could laugh and cry, give and take, breathe and live, who used to be just as alive as she…?

Is this the person who she would become?

Or would she rather choose insanity?

What a despicable creature she was already… why was she thinking about herself? 

He eyes were too terrified to look at his lifeless body again. But she had to, that was the least she had to do… 

The whole place went so silent as if all life in the forest died with him. And underneath his body, a large pool of blood shimmering in the last rays of the day…

_,,Dear God, please tell me I didn’t kill him… !”_


	15. Death Before Dishonor

Ogron felt like his heart stopped beating in that moment. Perhaps it still was… it must have been, since he still heard his own, shallow, quickened breaths. Yes, his body was still alive, however it wasn’t his body anymore, because it turned to stone. The blood in his veins was still red and warm, the air in his lungs still keeping him alive, he saw everything with his own eyes and heard everything with his own ears, however this petrified shell of his physical essence that trapped his soul in its unbreakable cage of a frozen shock… it didn’t belong to him anymore.

His eyes fell on Duman’s body, the horrid bright red mixing with its darker shades, flowing out from him like a waterfall of vibrant color, flowing out and taking the life with itself, dragging it out mercilessly, incessantly and watering the vividly green grass beneath the lifeless body, as if the last remains of that life were thirstily getting absorbed by the ground…

His eyes saw all that, so why was he standing there like a statue made of cold, rigid stone, unable to do anything at all? Was in shock, was it fear, was it weakness that turned him just as stiff as the body of his brother, that was gradually gaining an unspeakably horrifying shade of a deadly, snow-like pallor? Was he, the leader of the Black Circle, the most powerful wizard on Earth conquered by fear for the first time in the long eternity of the centuries he lived? Or worse, was it just plain, shaming weakness…?

What did it matter… the longer he hesitated, the smaller would the chance of Duman’s survival become. That is if there was any chance at all, if he hasn’t already drawn his last breath…

However just as he planned to mercilessly fight off his inability to move once and for all, he noticed Anagan, who just as Gantlos was standing petrified without uttering a single word for as long as he himself, but now he seemed to regain his focus sooner than his leader and quickly rushed to the deadly wounded shapeshifter, falling down on his knees by his brother’s side and gently turning his body to have a look at his face.

,,Duman… Duman, say something. Please, say something, tell me that you hear me…”

Anagan was fighting back tears that already clouded his sight, just as he ferociously tried to fight against the relentless thought that screamed loudly in his head, a thought that was more than just a concern, it was an almost convinced instinct, a thought that it’s too late, that the moment he saw life behind his brother’s eyes for the last time was already behind him forever… and that moment took a chance, a chance that will never come back, away with it. A chance to finally make things right, to mend what was broken between him and his brother without him even knowing about it for centuries… 

It was all gone. And it was gone way too soon…

And his last thoughts before Duman's death were the ones of contempt and anger, calling him a monster, an animal without a heart and conscience…

He heard steps behind him and when he turned around he saw Gantlos approaching them, squatting down next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

,,Maybe there’s still hope. Let me have a look at him,” he whispered quietly and gently pushed the dark-haired wizard away, putting his hand on Duman’s forehead and using his magic in a desperate attempt to sense at least the smallest flicker of life inside his brother’s cold body.

A spell like that required a calm, imperturbable mind and a strong ability of unshakable concentration, so he knew he was to only one fit for doing it, even though he dreaded what he might find out, he dreaded it more than anything in the last centuries, although his composed demeanor would certainly not suggest that fact. Losing one of his brothers would be like losing a part of his soul. And he knew better than anybody what did such a loss mean… it was like a slow, numb death taking over anybody who experiences it, turning the soul into a cold desert of remaining weak emotions, making it impossible to feel, to breathe… until long years would slowly pass and the time would finally heal his wound, although just to the point when his soul would somehow be able to feel like a part of his body again, nothing more. And that wasn’t a lot… yes, he already knew. He knew what loss meant better than any of his brothers.

And then he felt it. Small and almost imperceptible, but that weakly lingering flame of life was still there somewhere…

,,He lives…,” he let those words out from his lips with a shaky breath.

,,Are… are you sure?” Anagan asked with a slightly trembling voice, unable to suppress the crashing wave of hope that Gantlos’s words created inside him.

,,Yes… but he’s just barely alive.”

The blonde wizards turned his face and met the icy blue eyes of their leader, who was still standing a few meters away from them.

,,Ogron, he lives. Come on, we must get him home, we must do something!” he exclaimed desperately, the realization of the fact that seconds could make a difference between life and death suddenly almost driving him insane, it was a feeling he haven’t felt for such a long time, he almost forgot it still existed and that he could still experience it… 

However, the red-haired wizard didn’t move, didn’t say anything, he just stood there, turning his face to the girl who quite possibly took the life of his little brother in such a careless, despicable way… 

His eyes fell on her tiny helpless body, she looked so fragile, so vulnerable and pitiful, with terrified regret written all over her face, with heavy breaths shaking her entire little frame, down on her knees as if _she_ was the one who has been defeated… everything about her appearance screamed remorse and misery. She looked so innocent… that murderer, that _monster_ dared to look like an innocent little girl, as if it changed anything, as if her pathetic tears could save anyone, as if somebody actually cared for her wretched guilt and regret!

How dared she?! How dared she take what was the most important in his life? His little brother whom he raised from childhood, whom he taught everything he knew about magic and power, who became his only family after he chose to abandon the one to which he was connected by blood, whom he never told that he actually cared about him at all, that he cared about him more than about anyone, until this moment came and it was suddenly too late…

,,Take him home. I have something I need to take care of first,” he heard himself say in a quiet, deadly menacing voice.

,,But Ogron, _you_ have the gift of healing magic!” Anagan exclaimed as he stood up abruptly, determined to do anything to make sure that Duman had the best chances to stay alive, ,,you have to come _now_! You’re the only one who can save him!”

,, _I said go!_ ” Ogron snapped harshly at the dark-haired wizard, furious enough already, and therefore absolutely unwilling to listen to any form of protest.

,,He’s right, Ogron,” Gantlos said, trying hard not to show how incredibly nervous he truly was, how he felt like his emotions were going to tear him apart from the inside by any second, ,,revenge can wait. Duman’s life can not.”

Should he listen to his brothers? Could revenge truly wait? Sure, it sounded reasonable enough… however something about it wasn’t right. Because revenge was exactly what Duman would want, if this was his choice, Ogron was more than convinced about that. He could almost imagine his brother shouting at them to leave him and finish what he started, finish it right at that moment without any hesitation, he could imagine how the only thing that Duman would crave much more than his life was taking hers, a sweet, dark, immediate revenge of torture, having the girl pay with her own blood for his and having her suffer in a heartbeat, not just after his body was already cold forever, six feet under in the grave, but while he was drawing his last breaths, at least feeling the thrill of this last kill, since realistically, he was dead already… yes, that’s what he would want, Ogron had no doubt about that.

Suddenly he remembered what Duman once told him. _Better to die on one’s feet than to live on one’s knees._ And according to that belief he lived his entire life. He wasn’t the one to fear death. All he wanted was to die with dignity and with a purpose, when that moment came.

So he has decided. And there was no going back from that decision.

He turned around slowly and took a few steps until he reached his brothers, who sighed in relief, thinking he gave up and listened to the voice of reason. He got down on his knees and placed his left hand on Duman’s chest, pressed two fingers of his right hand to his lips and then to his brother’s forehead, quickly and subtly, without adding any unnecessarily theatrical, heartbreaking feeling to it. It was an old gesture coming from the country where he was born, a gesture forgotten for centuries, symbolizing gratitude, honor and respect for the deceased.

,,Malo mori quam foedari…,” he whispered quietly as a part of that old custom, letting the words of his last goodbye intertwine with the cold wind, getting carried away by it forever, condemned to the fate of becoming nothing more than an intangible memory that would mercilessly evanesce day by day.

Then he stood up, decided never to allow his eyes to look at his youngest brother’s deadly white body ever again. He had to let go, even though that act would surely shatter his heart and soul to pieces, turning him into a living corpse. However, if his brother was going to die anyway, dying with him was the least he owed him to do… 

,,Ogron… Ogron what are you doing…?” Anagan asked, the confusion in his voice mixing with anxious panic, as the only chance to safe Duman’s life was apparently inevitably fading away. He knew that determined expression in his leader’s face. There was nothing that could stop him…

,,Go. Take him home.”

,,Are you insane?! How can you do this?! You can still save him!”

,,No, I can’t!” he heard his own outraged shout of desperation, ,,I said go!” 

,,You know we all respect your choices and your leadership, Ogron, but this time we can’t let you do what you intent to,” Gantlos said, his voice and his determination firm and unshakable like a mountain.

,,Do I look like I’m leaving you a choice?! _I am_ your leader, so you will do as I say!” he shouted furiously, his emotions clouding his judgment and his mind completely at this point, however he couldn’t care less. Anger and craving for revenge might have been driving him insane already, however when he made the decision to avenge his brother’s death, he was still thinking straight, he knew he was, so that was all he could hold onto right now. 

,,I’m afraid not this time,” Anagan said quietly, his almost black eyes glowing with a dangerous dark light, suggesting that he was willing to do whatever it took to make the red-haired wizard, who was apparently completely controlled by irrational, raging emotions, listen to the voice of reason.

,,I’m afraid this time as well…”

As Ogron said those words, he focused all of his energy to create a smoke of dark, ominous power in his hands, a power that gradually took a clear form of a black object, of a circle that radiated so much eerily dark force that just a single look at it left no doubt of how strong and destructive that object was.

,,Ogron… stop it,” Gantlos said, trying his best to reason with the outraged man, ,,you know you have no right to do this. You may be the leader, but the Black Circle belongs to all of us. If you use it against our will, you’ll be turning our own powers against us, and that’s just too much, even for you, and you know that.”

,,I’m doing what I consider right… and you’re not going to stop me. I’m sorry, brothers.”

Ogron’s voice suddenly became much softer, as if he realized what he was going to do was far from right and wanted to make up for it somehow.

He lifted the Black Circle in his hands, focusing his powers into it, intertwining with the magic of his fellow wizards that was stored in that object, and finally turning it into a portal of black rays that engulfed his three brothers in the shadowy light, transporting them away from the place, away from him and away from his inevitable, merciless revenge. A part of him hoped they would avenge Duman’s death together… but Anagan and Gantlos have been naively blinded by the faint, almost non-existent hope that they could save him, grasping that ridiculously small possibility with a foolishly stubborn grip, unable to see the reality. 

The reality that even if there was hope for Duman, it didn’t matter. Because all that mattered was revenge. A life for a life. Blood for blood. That’s what he would have wanted.

When he turned his eyes away from the place where Duman’s body lay just a few seconds ago, an abandoned, strangely empty spot without any trace of the shapeshifter's presence, any trace other than the large pool of thick, dark red blood, his gaze fell on the young, helpless fairy, whose body was now trembling with quiet sobs, tears rolling down her cheeks, so softly pale in the first rays of moonlight. 

She looked helpless and vulnerable for sure… the problem was that she wasn’t. In fact, she seemed to be much more powerful than he could ever imagine, gifted with something definitely stronger than just fairy magic, something that could manage to affect him as well, since whatever that mysterious power of hers was, he couldn’t absorb it…

His blood was boiling and his entire body, his every sense was craving for her blood, he wanted to feel it’s warmth on his fingertips, he wanted to see it’s deliciously horrid dark shade on his hands, he wanted to hear her last scream of suffering as her body would fall lifelessly on the ground, he wanted to taste her fear in her last moments and that utter, hopeless despair… for that, however, he would have to choose a different tactic than just mindlessly try to destroy her in an explosion of his raw anger. What he needed was a deception, was creating a false feeling of safety and then…

Roxy knew she should have run away a long time ago when she had the chance. However, she couldn’t, something kept her bound to that one place where she was still uncontrollably sobbing on her knees, tying her to the ground with invisible chains of crushing, suffocating guilt. She couldn’t just run away, not when there was a chance, a feeble, pale chance that she would see him open his golden eyes again, that a miracle would happen and he would draw one another breath, and then another… oh, what would she give for that? Her life? Gladly. If he had woken up, he would have definitely killed her for what she’s done to him, and she would let him, because that was exactly what she deserved.

She just killed a man. She was a murderer. Why was she crying when she wanted to scream? She just took a life. And ruined three others. She killed Duman, calling him a monstrous beast. And turned into the exactly same thing afterwards.

,,I wouldn’t expect so much tears for a man who only caused you suffering and pain.”

She abruptly lifted her head that was hidden in her palms up until now, meeting the pale blue eyes of the only wizard who for some reason still remained at that place. For some reason…? Wasn’t that reason obvious enough? He stayed to take her life, to kill her, to make sure his brother’s death was avenged, since that’s all he could do for him…

She wished to die just a few second ago. But now, as she looked at him, as she looked into the icy abyss of his cold eyes that were hiding so much burning anger behind them, a tormenting fire that tried to remain unnoticed, she could only imagine the brutal, cruel, savage way in which he would kill her, soaking up each drop of her deadly agony as the last pleasure in his life that would afterwards turn into a black desert of a lifeless heart, a heart that died after loosing someone it cared for more than about its own life.

No… she couldn’t allow that. Something inside her was telling her she deserved to die, but some other part of her screamed she had to live, she had to live to make things right again, to become human again, to make up for what she’s done, hoping that there was a way she could do that, even though she painfully realized she would never wash away his blood from her hands completely. But she was still alive. And until she was, it wasn’t cowardice to fight for staying that way. It was what she had to do… because no matter how hard was to face it, her death wouldn’t bring Duman back.

,,What do you want?” she snapped at him, her breaking voice mixing with the tears and sobs, standing up from the cold ground abruptly, ,,I’m warning you… don’t come near me! Or I will destroy you as well…!”

Of course she didn’t mean those words, but the panic and the almost hysterical hyperventilation that she felt were slowly trying to take over her, made her do and say anything to save her own skin in that quick, desperate instinct. This mindless will to survive erased all the other things that could have had some significance, like guilt and shame, and made her feel like a wild animal whose whole world suddenly became only that one stormy, fundamental instinct to save her life. 

It was clear to him that in the state of a complete mental breakdown, in which she was right now, it wouldn’t be hard to make her lose her focus and take her life afterwards. All he needed was to touch that sore spot by the right words…

,,I don’t want anything. I just stayed to tell you that you’ve won. Congratulations, you’ve got all you ever wanted. Now I see that I’ve underestimated you, and that was a huge mistake. A mistake that cost me… that cost me everything. I’ve underestimated you, because I never thought you could posses so much impressive determination to stay alive, to do anything to save your own skin… but at the end of the day, can I blame you? It was either you or him, you had no reason to spare him. And I’ve always suspected you had that cruel, merciless carelessness inside you…”

,,Stop! I beg you, for goodness’s sake stop, don’t say anything, _I beg you_!” she cried desperately, hiding her face in her hands, sobbing hysterically, because his words were knives digging into her fresh wound, sinking deep into her soul covered in thick blood and tearing the least remains of her sanity apart. 

,,Oh, my sweet little fairy, don’t give up so soon… this is nothing. This is just the beginning. You have no idea how things work in the world of cruel, savage people like us, like you… the first kill is the worst. The first kill is what will haunt you in your nightmares until you get to the point where you either lose your sanity or embrace the new monster you’ve become. The face of that person is the one that stays with you for the entire eternity, a face long forgotten by all other people but never by you, because your deed cursed you with the ability to remember its every single detail, it’s impossible to _ever_ forget. You can trust me that I know what I’m talking about… because I haven’t forgotten the face of the person who was my first kill either. That face stayed with me for centuries, I’ve lost all my memories of other faces, even of my own blood-related family, but never that one. And why? Because thanks to that person I’ve been reborn. Without a heart and conscience, but stronger than I could ever imagine.”

,,That… that’s not… me,” she whispered between her sobs, ,,I’m not like you. This... this will _never_ make me stronger…”

,,It makes some people stronger. It destroys other completely. That’s a matter of a decision and of what has always been inside you. And honestly… I don’t think you will succumb to your guilt… your careless selfishness will never allow you to do that. And that’s what makes you strong. You will hold onto your life whatever it takes.”

He said those words softly, almost compassionately, almost as if he could respect her for that. And that’s what made them even crueler. Inside he enjoyed each word he let out from his lips with almost unbelievable pleasure, with that vivid ecstasy, realizing that no amount of physical torture would ever be able to shatter her more, that this was the cruelest, most wicked, most excruciating way to make her suffer before ending her miserable life. Because thanks to his words, she would die believing she was a monster, no better than the man she killed…

,,You’ve won,” he repeated his words quietly, ,,you took everything from me. I’m no fool, now I realize that you’re able to take even more, so I’m leaving. You’ll never see us again. I still have a lot to lose, but I will rather give up my quest than see you take it again, kill it without any mercy.”

,,Wait!” she shouted desperately as he slowly turned around, making a wicked grin appear on his lips, ,,Ogron… I’m so sorry…”

She knew her quiet words meant nothing to him. How could they? But she had to say them, she had to let him know… she wanted him to know that his brother’s death truly wasn’t just something insignificant to her and that it hurt her more than anything...

He didn’t respond, just clenched his fists and his jaw, putting an incredible effort into staying calm for the sake of his plan. Sorry?! She was sorry?! How dared she say that?! As if one miserable apology could bring the dead back to life… he stared walking away as if she didn’t say anything.

,,If I could exchange my life for his, I would!” she sobbed in despair, ,,I would want nothing more…”

Those words made him stop and turn around sharply. 

,,You say you would…?” he scoffed ,,and what if I told you there was a way to grant you your wish… would your honorable bravery remain unshaken?”

After hearing that her heart began beating so fast it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Could what Ogron was saying be possible…? What if there was a way to take her life and somehow put it into Duman’s body, what if there really was a chance to undo what she’s done? He could be lying… but nothing mattered anymore. If she could do what he suggested, she would do it in a heartbeat and hold onto his words with a tenacious grip, determined not to let go of this faint new hope for the world.

She took a few steps until she was standing right in front of him, looking straight into his eyes with desperate desire written all over her face.

,,Yes. Yes… I would do it,” she whispered quietly, ,,is… is there really a way? If there is then I beg you, help me, so that I can do it…”

Ogron was honestly taken aback by her words. He didn’t expect such a reaction… not many people would respond like this, that was for sure. She was truly willing to give her own life in exchange for Duman’s… there was something undeniably admirable about that fact, even though a part of him just considered it weak and pathetic. However it was his brother’s life they were talking about, so that changed everything. She would really do that… something inside him made his soul of ice and stone melt a little. She would really bring his little brother back to life…

,,Then come with me,” he said softly and stretched out his open hand towards her.

She took it without hesitation. She even allowed him to gently pull her into his embrace, even though she didn’t exactly understand why did he do that… however as she rested her head on his strong chest all of her doubts faded away. She felt so safe… he let her cry in his arms for a while, letting her tears wet his shirt, and even gently ran his fingers through her hair in such a tender, comforting manner… 

,,So there really is a way?” she quietly sobbed into his chest.

He didn’t answer. He slowly let go of her waist, his hand that rested there just a second ago suddenly gone. She lifted her head to look at him, still hoping to get the answer… 

…and then she suddenly heard a scream…. 

…it was her own scream. 

She shouted out at the top of her lungs, she shouted out so loudly she was barely able to believe it was her own voice she was hearing.

She felt the pain but when she looked down, she refused to admit to herself that it was her body she was looking at. Blood everywhere, on her skin, on her clothes, flowing out from her stomach, wetting his hand and the long dagger in it, the dagger that kept pushing deeper and deeper inside her as she continued painting its entire blade red, eventually getting so deep she felt its end coming out from the other side of her body, cutting through the skin of her back…

,,No. There is no way. All you can do for him is die. That is what you get for messing with my family, you naive whining bitch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own the quote of Duman's ,,life motto", it's a quote from Jean Paul Sartre.
> 
> Translation: ,,Malo mori quam foedari" means Death Before Dishonor in Latin (hence the name of the chapter, again :D)


	16. Mark of Flames

He pulled the dagger out from her stomach with one sharp, fast movement, letting even more blood flow from her mortally wounded body, making her gasp and cry from torturous pain at the moment when she was already convinced that experiencing more suffering was physically impossible.

He soaked up each moment with his every sense, each second of her agony, and every breath he drew while listening to her cries, wails and loud gasps of pain and shock was a salvation, was victory, seemed like the sole purpose of his entire life at that moment and for the rest of the eternity. 

Her body collapsed into his arms, her legs unable to support her anymore. He caught her and pressed her to his chest, feeling her quickened breaths of disbelief, enjoying how her head rested on his heart, his heart that was still beating and would continue to do so for long centuries that were ahead of him, meanwhile hers would soon fail, give up the desperate fight for the life she had no right to keep.

What a naive, pathetic thing she was… how could she have believed him? Did she really expect that forgiveness for the unforgivable would simply be granted to her because she was so weak that she couldn’t live with her own guilt and bear the consequences of her own actions? Her weakness was so disgusting… he was never the one to forgive. And neither was his brother.

One of his hands supported her heavily hyperventilating body against his meanwhile he lifted the other one in which he still held the dagger, the dagger that was painted in the most satisfying, beautiful crimson red color, and pressed it against her neck, slowly and carefully to savor each moment that provided him with the satisfaction of hearing her heart beginning to beat even faster from the fear of expecting more pain…

And that’s what he gave her. She began crying again when the blade cut through her skin, although not deeply, and slowly moved down her neck, reaching her collarbone, leaving a streak of blood behind its cruel touch, red drops rolling down her deadly white skin, contrasting with its pallor so vividly. Eventually the sharp blade stopped at her chest and he pointed its end to her heart, enjoying her complete helplessness and that she had no way to fight back, to resist the inevitable suffering…

Oh, to think that a monster like her almost seduced him, that she made his body burn hot with desire and made him want to hold hers possessively, to kiss her lips passionately, to feel her skin underneath his fingers and eventually even touch her body in a much more intimate way that just that just by these innocent touches… if that had ever happened, he would now have to feel disgusted with himself for the rest of his life, there was no doubt about that… 

Her chest was rising and falling quickly, she closed her eyes, expecting the inevitable, however he waited, he waited for a few more seconds longer to let her suffocate in the desperation, to let her fully realize what was going to happen…

…and she breathlessly begged him to do it as fast as possible, begging on her knees inside her head…

,,Die alone with your guilt, whore.”

His dagger sank deep inside her heart. 

Her last scream was the final sign of his victory. It was done. His revenge was complete. 

However the victory was bittersweet, since with its delicious taste came also something dark, cruel and horrid, something he dreaded more than he would dead his own death. It was the time to return home… and see with his own eyes what was awaiting him there. And not just that. What was probably even worse was that he had to confront himself, his decision, his choice, his belief in the heat of that moment that he was doing the right thing… because maybe, just maybe, that single decision made a significant difference… a difference between life and death. 

He wasted no more time and teleported himself, disappearing in the cloud of shadowy smoke, leaving that cursed place behind him forever, strongly convinced he would never set his foot in that forest again. 

A moment later he found himself in front of a big house hidden deep in the cold mountains that surrounded it with their peaceful, undisturbed tranquility. Their quiet calmness was always something that managed to extinguish the fire of rage and hatred inside him, no matter how strong it was, providing him at least for a while with some peaceful comfort, that his soul craved somehow subconsciously almost constantly, although it never got to satisfy its desperate need for it completely. However this time no comfort came…

He quickly ran inside, his feet subconsciously carrying him to Duman’s room, meanwhile his mind was involuntarily torturing him with incessant, relentless questions and sudden doubts. The words of his brothers telling him that he was the only one who could save the youngest wizard seemed to start making sense all of a sudden, their meaning burning traces of guilt into his mind and into his conscience more and more each second… were they truly right?

How will he ever look into their eyes if they were? How will he ever look at himself in the mirror without hating the reflection of the man who could have done something to save the most important person in his life, but chose to let that opportunity burn and go up in the flames of his need for vengeance? 

He found himself in front of the door that without any doubt hid the most terrifying sight he ever witnessed behind them. The excruciating fear that took over his entire consciousness in that moment was unspeakable… however he paid no attention to it.

Maybe it wasn’t too late, maybe he still had time, maybe Duman was still drawing his last breaths… deep inside he knew that this desperate plea was just a foolish denial. There was only one real question. Were the long years ahead of him going to be a ceaseless, tormenting agony because he won’t be able to live without his brother, or because he won’t be able to live with the beast that killed him, with the man that he himself became?

He opened the door and stormed inside the room as fast as if he was trying to run away from that undoubtedly essential question, that sooner or later he would have to answer anyway.

His eyes fell on Anagan, who sat on the bed beside the cold, lifeless body, his hand tenaciously gripping his brother’s, which slowly gained a soft shade of blue, seemingly getting darker and darker each second… 

His entire well-built frame was shaking in tremulous sobs, his face hidden in the palm of his other hand, fingers digging into his dark hair in silent anguish that couldn’t be described by any words. Few long braided strands of that hair were falling in front of his face and their ends were slowly getting wet by the tears, that were rolling down his face and falling down on the bed, mixing with the pool of blood that surrounded the white, rigid body and slowly flowed down the dark covers, painting the floor in wet, dark red.

Ogron has never seen Anagan looking this weak and defeated in his entire life. He could almost feel the sorrow and grief that seemed to capture the dark-skinned wizard in their deadly claws, sucking the life out of him as a cruel consequence coming after one life that had already faded away… 

After all those long years that Ogron knew Anagan, he somehow came to the conclusion that the man’s ability to feel any deeper and more intense emotion was simply non-existent, so he was completely convinced that his brother’s phlegmatic calmness was as unshakable as it was careless, and that whatever would happen it would always stay that way. Sometimes his brother seemed so calm and imperturbably quiet that he was actually pretty sure that any emotion, even the slightest, somehow completely managed to elude his inner world.

It was truly strange how could one be so mistaken about someone even after knowing them for centuries…

Meanwhile Anagan didn’t seem to notice him, Gantlos, who was quietly standing beside the window with his back turned to what would shatter his heart to pieces if he took even the slightest look at it, immediately turned his head towards him as soon as he entered the room, his eyes abandoning the peaceful sight of the nature behind the window.

,,You’re coming late… brother,” he said quietly.

His face was emotionless and the tears on his face seemed like cold, lifeless crystals, as if they didn’t belong to him at all. Nothing in his appearance suggested any anger or hatred… but he was hiding an entire raging storm behind that composed demeanor, a storm that was could only arise in the shattered soul of a person who lost someone who meant more to him than his own life, who lost someone like that and it wasn’t even for the first time…

And Ogron knew that. Those four words were all he needed to hear to have no more doubts about the fact that his oldest brother despised him for what he did, despised him so much that he didn’t even bother to put his loathing into any more words…

,,Is he… is he already…?” 

Ogron voice was trembling as he let out those words, unable to finish his question. He had no more intention of pretending to be strong, meaninglessly proud and shamelessly conceited. 

Anagan lifted his gaze, his black eyes filled with so much unexpected, raw detestation that Ogron could barely believe he was looking at the was the same man he knew for centuries.

,,Yes, Ogron, he is,” he said in a quiet, menacing voice as he stood up and started slowly walking towards the red-haired wizard, ,,not that _you_ have any right to ask, not that _you_ have any right to be here, not that you had _any right_ to come back and set your foot in his room in the first place…”

He stopped in front of him, his eyes glowing with deadly danger hidden inside their deep dark abyss, his fists clenched and everything about his whole body language suggesting he was just barely restraining his anger and wrath.

,,Anagan… I’m so sorry…,” a single tear rolled down the wizard’s face as he said those words and that single tear, the first one he allowed himself to shed in long years, felt like it washed away all those centuries of unwavering, excessive pride and his entire pretence of having a cold, icy heart made of stone. 

,,What makes you think we care…? What makes you think that _he_ …,” Anagan whispered scornfully, gesturing to the white body covered in blood, ,,that he cares..?”

,,I have nothing to say to excuse what I did… only that I though I was doing to right thing.”

,,The right thing?!” the dark-haired wizard shouted all of a sudden, shocking both of his brothers who never heard him raise his voice in their entire lives, ,,are you serious?! How _dare_ you say that?! Are you trying to tell me you thought it was the right thing to let him die without even trying to do anything about it, are you trying to tell me you thought it was the right thing to let him suffer in his last moments alone, are you trying to tell me that revenge was really more important than the fact that you just killed your own brother, you crazy, sick son of a bitch?!”

Those words left Ogron more than taken aback for a while, he would never imagine that someone would dare to speak to him like that, and mostly it would never occur to him that he would ever hear such words from coming from the mouth of his brother.

,,I did _not_ kill him!” he shouted furiously, allowing his hurt pride to take over him in the fiery storm of emotions, ,,that pathetic little fairy did and there was nothing I could do to change that! Nothing except for taking revenge!”

,,You don’t know that! You didn’t even try!”

He didn’t even try… who was he trying to fool? Why was he trying to justify his mistakes like a coward? He made a decision and there was no going back. Every word Anagan said was nothing else that the harsh, undeniable truth.

,,Are you really going to make excuses? Are you going to hide behind empty words rather than bearing the consequences of your actions, now when I thought it was already impossible for you to become an even more despicable person?” Anagan scoffed mercilessly.

,,I never said I was a good man. Why do you expect anything honorable from me now?” he whispered, his guilt tearing him apart from the inside more and more by each word coming out of his brother’s mouth, making him involuntarily deny his responsibility even further to excuse his horrid deed.

,,None of us are good men, Ogron. We’ve never been, we will never be. But this has nothing to do with that. Even monsters like us have somebody they care about. We had each other to care about and to stand side by side no matter what happens. And I believed in that until today, until you left Duman die like he meant nothing to you, like you weren’t the one who raised him, like the centuries you’ve spent together as a family didn’t happen at all. And I’ll be completely honest, I’ve always thought that Duman was the biggest bastard from all of us. But now I see he was nothing compared to you…”

He went silent for a while, wiping the tears of outraged despair off his face with the back of his hand. Ogron couldn’t face it anymore, he couldn’t continue listening to those words, or he would surely go insane. Did Roxy feel like this when he said what he said before he killed her as well…? 

He wanted to leave Anagan behind as he took a few steps towards the bed that Duman was lying on, but he was stopped by a hand placing itself on his shoulder.

,,You have no right. You weren’t there when he was drawing his last breaths. You weren’t there by his side when he needed you the most.”

,,Anagan,” Gantlos said quietly, ,,let him do it. He has the right to say goodbye.”

,,But he already did, right, Ogron? What was it that you said…?” he scoffed scornfully, ,,Malo mori quam foedari? Death before dishonor, an ancient heraldic motto of your blood-related family, am I right? What a lovely, poignant way to express the last goodbye… it’s just such a shame it came out of the mouth of a man who doesn’t have the slightest idea of what honor means… abandoning his new, chosen family just as he had abandoned his real one, heartlessly and without any shame.”

,,Anagan! That’s enough!” Gantlos raised his voice slightly and took a few steps towards the outraged wizard, putting a hand on his shoulder, hoping it would be enough to stop him from saying anything more. 

All of the wizards knew there were some things that should remain unspoken. Each one of them had a painful connection to their past like that, a sore spot deep inside their souls that never healed completely during all those long years, and was therefore undoubtedly impossible to ever mend. And they all respected each other’s wounds by covering them in quiet ignorance of pretended oblivion, acting like the suffering never existed and obeying an unspoken rule never to mention each other’s sore spots that hurt more than anything else.

Gantlos knew, just as Anagan, that in Ogron’s case it was completely unacceptable to ever mention his real family, not even in the slightest, most subtle way. They existed for him no more. He erased them from his past completely, forced his mind forget their faces, their voices, their touches, condemned them all to become nothing more than an undeniable, yet just abstractly blurred fact, that his blood and flesh must have been created by somebody after all. 

So now that Anagan said those words, he deliberately and completely heartlessly crossed the line that should never have been crossed. Gantlos understood that he was hurt beyond measure because of their brother’s death, however words like that could only ignite more conflict and destroy the last remains of loyalty and respect to each other, that now seemed to be the only thing that could still manage to hold their broken family together. And no matter how despicable and horrid Ogron’s deed was, this family was all he had, so he was not going to let it fall apart for the world. 

,,You think I’m crossing the line, brother?” Anagan asked as if he could read his mind, ,,I know I am. But I wasn’t the first one who did. My words are less than nothing compared to what he did.”

,,If you think that reminding me of my long-forgotten family is going to hurt me more than losing the one I actually care about, you’re wrong,” Ogron responded in an almost unbelievably calm tone, that left the blond wizard quite taken aback. He didn’t expect such a composed reaction from a man who tended to lose his temper over much less significant matters.

,,I realize what my mistake will cost me,” the red hair wizard sighed and took a few steps towards his angry brother, ,,I really do, Anagan.”

,,Good. Than at least your crime will be your punishment…” Anagan whispered quietly, looking straight into the blue eyes undeniably filled with honest regret and suppressed tears.

,,…but I can’t stay.”

,,What… what do you mean you can’t stay?” Orgon asked after a few seconds, his voice filled with shock and disbelief.

This couldn’t be happening. No… that was impossible. He already lost one of his brothers, and that was nothing else than his own fault. Was that mistake truly going to cost him one another member of his only family?

,,I can’t stay,” Anagan sighed, repeating his unspeakably horrifying words, ,,and that’s not just because Duman is gone. All of those years I spent with you, with my new family, I was convinced I found at least something close to having a purpose in my life. It wasn’t the hunt for fairies, it wasn’t always gaining more and more power, spreading fear and terror, you know that had never really mattered that much to me. Unlike you all, I had no reason to seek revenge. But I did, I did because of you, because the rest of you _did_ have a reason and you’ve been willing to become my family when I had no one and nothing to live for. So my hunt for fairies became my way to… to somehow pay off the debt I always felt I had, I guess. And this family meant everything to me, my entire world, even though I never said it. And somehow I always thought that you all looked at it in the same way… but the point is, that today I found out I was wrong. If you, Ogron, if _you_ of all people could let Duman die just like that to get revenge, I realized that the idea of vengeance will always mean more to you than anything else in the world. There is nothing that you crave more, you’re willing to sacrifice everything. And that is the reason why I can’t stay. Because today you’ve shown me that what mattered to most to me in my life, this family, never really mattered that much to you. So I suppose that not just to you, but to Duman and Gantlos as well… and I admit that I was a fool for all these years when I thought I was like the rest of you.”

,,Anagan…,” Gantlos said quietly, unable and unwilling to believe his brother could truly mean his radical words, ,,that is not true. You must know it’s not. I understand that you’re angry… and that’s why you can't make such serious decisions right now. You need to calm down, you’re not thinking straight…”

,,I am already calm,” the dark-haired wizard sighed, ,,and that decision is something I’ve thought through.”

,,Anagan…,” Ogron said, another two tears slowly leaving his eyes and rolling down his face without him knowing about it, the terrifying realization crushing his soul as he gripped his brother’s shoulder so tenaciously, as if this gesture was a subconscious expression of the fact he would do anything to change his mind, ,,I don’t know what should I say, what words should I use to convince you that what you’re thinking is not true…”

,,Nothing. Don’t bother. Actions speak louder than words.”

The silence and the tension which fell upon the room and made it almost impossible to breathe in the next few moments was unbearable for each one of them. It seemed like everything was said already… and that the action that was going to follow was inevitable. No more words seemed necessary anymore, because Anagan’s last ones made the other two wizards realize the undeniable fact, that words were a weapon too weak to fight against everything that has already been done.

,,So I think this is it…,” Anagan’s quiet whisper cut through the silence as he slowly started walking out of the room.

,,Wait!” Ogron exclaimed suddenly, ,,you should stay at least until we bury him… I won’t try to do anything to keep you here afterwards. You can go and forget about us for good.”

Anagan stopped, but didn’t turn around. The tears that started rolling down his face again didn’t have to be seen by anybody else anymore. He was silent for a few moments, considering Ogron’s words, although he knew very well what was the right thing to do. However the idea of having to see Duman’s body for the last time being swallowed by the depths of the earth seemed like a torturous, horrid nightmare… was he strong enough to witness that after everything that happened?

,,I’ve already said my last goodbye. I’ve been the one there with him in his last moments after all.”

As he said those words, trying hard to prevent his voice from trembling, he walked out from the room, more than possibly for the last time in his life.

Ogron felt like all of his tormenting emotions left him at that moment. It was like he has already overdosed on them so much that his body tried to protect him by turning off his ability to feel completely.

He didn’t even look back to see his brother who chose to walk away for good. Instead walked towards the bed with the lifeless corpse lying on it, white skin dressed in black clothes soaked in red blood, the remains of what once used to be Duman’s body. He sat down beside him, his mind blank and his emotions intangible. This sight was going to tear him apart day by day in the entire following eternity.

,,He’s still alive,” the blond wizard said all of a sudden.

,,What?” he turned around with a sharp, shocked movement, ,,what do you mean that…”

,,Well, he won’t make it, so basically he’s dead. But I put a spell on his body to preserve him in this state, I kept these hardly lingering remains of life inside him, so that when you come back, you could say goodbye while he’s still…”

Gantlos couldn’t finish that sentence, since he felt like his voice was going to break any second. However what he wanted to say was more than clear.

,,Anagan didn’t know about it. But I thought you deserved to have this opportunity…” 

,,Thank you… I couldn’t ask for more…,” Ogron whispered, involuntarily letting out a quiet sob, another display of weakness which he never showed in centuries, as his shaky fingers lightly touched the deep, bloody wound on the shapeshifter’s chest.

,,That doesn’t mean anything is forgiven.”

,,I would never ask you to do that. I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness… and if you want to leave, then leave now. You should find Anagan and continue living your lives as brothers without me. It’s not him who should end up alone after what’s been done.”

,,I’m surprised you say that… this must be the first time in your life you’re admitting your mistake,” Gantlos replied in a calm, quiet voice, ,,but I’m not leaving. Not because you deserve solace, but because we are family. Anagan left and that was his choice, nothing can be done about that. But I’m not leaving you behind because of your worst mistake… even though I want you to know that I meant what I said about forgiveness. Don’t ever expect to get that from me.”

Orgon wanted to reassure him that any kind of pardon was the least he would want at the moment, since no amount of that could ever wash away the excruciating remorse that would stay with him for the rest of his life as his everlasting punishment. However those words never left his mouth, since all of a sudden an idea struck him, perhaps unrealistic and too desperate, but probably still worth trying.

He placed his hand on Duman’s forehead and tried to sense the last flickers of life inside him. Yes… he was still alive. And with that small, hardly burning flame there was an intertwining trace of something else… of that strange, unknown magic power that managed to suck all life out of him.

,,Gantlos… I think there might be a way to save him…,” he gasped quietly, letting the new chimeric idea cloud his mind immediately in wave of desperation mixing with vibrant hope. 

,,Listen, Ogron… I know it’s hard to accept it but that’s impossible. If it wasn’t for my spell he’d be already gone a long time ago and…”

,,No… no, I really think there might be a way,” he said, the usual confidence returning to his voice once again, although this time he had some strong doubts inside, however that wasn’t going to stop him, ,,I just need you to keep him under that spell for some time until I come back.”

He stood up from the bed abruptly and prepared his magic to teleport himself just to be stopped by the blond wizard grabbing his hand and pulling it away from the dark emerging spell, making it disappear.

,,Slow down! If you really think there’s a way, how about you told me about your plan first?”

,,The magic that girl used to wound Duman and kill him is still inside him, it didn’t just attack him and leave, it somehow still has its strong signature remaining everywhere in his body. I think that if I had enough of that magic and combined it with my healing powers… I’m not saying this for sure, but I really think it _might_ work…”

,,And for that you need to get the last fairy on Earth back here… that’s not going to be an easy thing to do on your own,” Gantlos remarked, seemingly skeptical about his brother’s idea, however inside he felt that this new hope suddenly breathed life into his body once again.

,,I wouldn’t worry about that… I just hope it’s not too late,” Ogron responded, the worry in his voice becoming more than apparent this time, since he remembered in what state he left her back there in the forest… and realistically, the chances of her survival were so slim they didn’t leave much time for hopeful wishes.

As he disappeared in the dark shadow of his spell that teleported him away, Gantlos walked towards Duman’s bed and sat down, just to find himself getting up a second later and pacing around the room in a rather nervous, uneasy way, the sound of his own steps the only thing to offer him some temporary comfort of a small distraction.

He tried to breathe in deeply a several times to calm himself down, his heart racing from excitement like it didn’t in long ages. The state of this anxious expectancy was one of those things, of those emotions he forgot completely that existed, covered in the dust of his apathetic life that was more like a slow, numb death. Yes, it was truly strange how he used to view life just as something he had to suffer though every day, how he used to view his days as a meaningless bother with no real purpose, other than taking some vaguely satisfactory revenge from time to time when he had the opportunity. How come he never realized he had so much to lose until he did…? Or perhaps just _almost_ did…?

,,You should have left with him. That would definitely make my job easier…”

Gantlos almost jumped from the sudden shock when he hear a woman’s voice behind his back, that shock and disbelief making his heart beat much harder than it already was before, however that was not caused only by having his thoughts disturbed by this unexpected guest. 

He knew that voice.

And when he turned around abruptly, wishing that his ears were fooling him, his eyes immediately assured him that was not the case. She was standing there, this time truly in the flesh and not just in his worst nightmares, not just in his distant memories that kept haunting him subconsciously almost every single day, not just as an insignificant fragment of the past that he tried to forget so desperately, no she was there, right in front of his eyes and she was as real as he was himself. 

,,What… what is this supposed to mean…?” he let out a shocked gasp, his face turning as white as snow, ,,you’re… you’re supposed to be dead!”

,,Oh, we will not get into that now my darling, if you don’t mind,” she laughed while she let the wicked grin play on her lips, ,,I would explain, but I’m afraid we the clock is ticking. So please, try to play nice for the first time in your life and step back. I need to get to him,” she said, gesturing towards Duman’s body, ,,…and no questions.”

,,You can forget about that, witch!” he shouted, quickly regaining his focus, even though he didn’t have the faintest idea how was what was going on even possible, and why was it happening in the first place. 

If she truly was alive, what reason did she have for coming now after pretending she was dead for long centuries, what reason did she have for coming there and for saying she needed to get to Duman? Nothing made sense… however he wasted no time and formed a powerful spell in his hands, ready to attack before she could have any chance to do it before him. 

However the woman quickly made a protective barrier around herself, one so strong it not only absorbed the wizard’s spell but also made it hit him back immediately, turning his own powers against him, and doing it so fast that he had no way to react and avoid the spell. A moment later he ended up throw against the wall with such brutally strong force that the impact made him lose his consciousness immediately. 

The corners of her mouth lifted in an evil, sinister grin as her piercing blue eyes fell on the defeated body of the wizard lying on the floor motionlessly. 

She slowly started walking towards the bed, focusing on the glowing mark she had on her forearm that was shining with rays of dark blue and black, that grew stronger and stronger by each step she took, until their painful burning sensation on her skin grew almost unbearable as she reached the barely alive shapeshifter and gently caressed his hand on the same spot where she had her mark, making the same one appear on his body as well. 

A mark of intertwining flames, small and weak at their separated ends, but growing stronger and deadlier as they were getting closer to each other until their eager, violent union made them burn with the fire of invincible, superior, raw power. 

The mark of their union. Forgotten for centuries. For him already dead long before it disappears from his body. He wanted to get rid of it so badly for such a long time… but it was everlasting, just as the promise they once made to each other.

,,Your life is my life. We are one. Connected in a way that no one else would ever understand… so from the power that was given to me a long time ago, you’ll live again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short note... I know that in my comment reply in the last chapter I've said that Duman's love interest was not going to be introduced so soon, but yeah, there's been a change of plan, I didn't know it then that I was going to add her to the story so soon, so I'm writing this just so that I don't look like a complete idiot in the eyes of the person who asked me, lol :D


	17. Shattered Loyalty

Duman realized he was dying. He realized it all along, every single second, each passing moment was a horrifying reminder that from the dark place, where he involuntarily found himself now, there was no going back. 

He heard the voices of his brothers, they were quiet and vague, he couldn’t recognize the words they were saying, but he could feel them, he could feel their meaning, he experienced the unspeakable anguish, the flaming anger and vast hopelessness, all springing out of their souls as the last, pointless fight against the harsh, unforgiving reality. He felt their pain. He didn’t just sense his own excruciating fear in that moment, he experienced their suffering with every inch of his terrified soul as well. Because they were his family. Because the bond they shared was stronger than blood.

Suddenly he felt something strange. It was like a touch… but it was so weak and evanescent, appearing and disappearing in short intervals constantly, so he couldn’t even be sure if it wasn’t just a desperate wish born from the last weak remains of his slowly fading life… no, that touch was familiar. And the voice as well. One of his brothers… 

Anagan. It was undoubtedly him. That realization left him quite taken aback. Why him? After all he had told him, after all those harsh, cruel words, calling him someone who was never a part of his family, someone who had no beliefs and no values, someone who had never mattered to him… why was it him there by his side, refusing to let him go and shedding desperate tears over his cold, almost lifeless body? Why was the man whom he never respected and never admired in any way the only one who was there for him in his last moments? No that it mattered that much, he held onto his voice and touch anyway, he held onto those last rays of life’s solace with all of his stubborn will, not willing to go down without a fight, perhaps even thankful for the man who offered him this feeble comfort, thankful for his presence for the first time in his life. 

However a different side of him was tormented by a fiery storm of raging emotions, feeling of betrayal and disappointment, when he realized that the one person, whom he would want to have by his side in his last moments, was nowhere to be found. Why did Ogron abandon him now? Now when it was clear he needed him the most? Could there be any good reason why he wasn’t there, why he wasn’t crying and screaming in desperation, why he wasn’t holding his hand to give him at least some slight comfort in his suffering, why he wasn’t doing all those things that Anagan was, despite everything, even after dealing with the pain of the huge wound he definitely left on his soul just a few days ago?

Was it truly possible that the person he despised his entire life, that shameless manwhore who only lived for his lust and to satisfy the dirty desires of his body, who slept with their enemies countless times more often than he killed or tortured them, was his real family rather than the person who saved him from his miserable life when he was just a child, who raised him and took care of him and gave him a new chance, a new life, a new beginning?

However, no matter how much he wanted to know the answers to all those ceaseless questions, he would probably never get to find them out anymore. The darkness took over his eyes, engulfed him completely, covered him with a black veil that by each weak breath seemed to let less and less light in, condemning him to eternal blindness, or perhaps even something much worse.

The terror he felt was unspeakable. He was never the one to think much about death, nor the one to fear it, it was something inevitable, something that slowly approached him day by day and would come sooner or later, since even though he was one of the most powerful wizards on Earth, the chimera of immortality was still something completely beyond his reach, so there was no point in wasting precious time on long contemplations about the dreaded moment when his soul would leave his body for good.

However now he would give anything to find out what was expecting him on the other side. If he could turn back time, perhaps he would decide to think about it more. Because not even in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine that the terror of the final moments, when his life was still lingering inside him with such cruel persistence, could be so excruciating.

Yes, he was horrified. For the fist time in his life he admitted that to himself without any pretense. He didn’t want to die. Even the faintest idea of what he feared might come was simply too much to bear…

,,I know you’re a man who doesn’t give up until his last breath, you’ve proved that countless times. But this time your own stubborn, persistent will can’t save you. You’re powerful, but no match for death.”

That voice wasn’t coming from the outside. Of course it wasn’t… it belonged to somebody who has been dead for long years, who only lived in his memories and tormented him with regrets every single day, it belonged to somebody whose touch was written all over his body, whose skin and lips haunted him in his most beautiful nightmares that he dreaded and craved at the same time, to someone whom he desperately imagined by his side every night when he tried to fall asleep, to someone whose body and soul he loved with burning passion and hated with raging loathing at the same time during all those years…

Her voice was coming from behind him but he didn’t turn around. If he knew one thing for sure, it was that he was nowhere near prepared to see her now, so unexpectedly and suddenly, after all that had happened between them in the distant past that he tried to forget so desperately for such a long time.

,,So this means I’m already dead?” he asked quietly, ,,that’s strange. I imagined hell to be a much more horrid place than this…”

,,I’m sure it is. So don’t let yourself become too comforted by the idea that it’s nothing more than this, because you’re not in there…”

Her voice… oh, for goodness's sake how was he supposed to deal with hearing it again? It has awoken so many intense, burning emotions inside him that he completely lost track of what exactly they were, because the raging storm in his soul mixed them all together and created something of a chaotic, violent mess, unreadable even for his own mind.

,,I must be. You’re here too, so I suppose that’s the only place were the both of us can continue our existence after death. If someone deserves it, it’s us.”

,,I’d say this vast dark nothing would be a punishment too merciful for monsters like us… don’t you think?” he heard her chuckling subtly. 

,,Then what is this supposed to mean? Why are you here? Am I still alive?”

,,So many meaningless questions…,” she sighted quietly and he sensed her presence behind him, her body getting closer and closer, until her skin was almost touching his…

,,…aren’t you at least a little happy to hear my voice again?”

Her lips brushed gently against his ear, making his body turn into stone immediately after experiencing the familiar, yet long forgotten sensation of feeling her lips against his skin… how could this be happening? It wasn’t real for sure… it was just some kind of a wishful, delirious dream that came to him in his last moments…

,,Aren’t you thrilled to see me…?” she whispered as her fingers gently caught his chin and slowly turned his face in her direction. 

It was truly her. Those captivating, piercing blue eyes could only belong to one person. That beautiful silky hair, those loose waves that were gracefully falling down on her shoulders like a waterfall of such vivid, radiant color, so alluring and excruciatingly desirable, and further down until they reached her tiny waist, where her clothes left her soft skin completely exposed, as if for his fingers to touch it and feel its warm sensation against his skin again…

No, he couldn’t allow himself to lose focus, now matter how tempting it was, now matter how tempting _she_ was. This must have been some kind of a trap…

He quickly grabbed the wrist of her hand that gently rested against his cheek and pushed it away immediately before she managed to resist, so roughly and harshly as if her touch was a dangerous, deadly poison. 

,,What do you want from me?” he snapped at her, ,,are you here to make sure the my last moments are turned into a pure, agonizing torment? Are you here to take revenge? I might be dying, but I’m still strong enough to fight you… so get out before I make you!”

,,You haven’t changed a bit,” she laughed in a way as if that fact was something that managed to amuse and surprise her at the same time, ,,still unable to swallow your pride and admit any kind of weakness… what a shame that every single time you act like that you remind me of Ogron and make me ask whether this conceited foolishness is a result of him being the only person who ever raised you, making you so similar to him in so many ways, or if it’s something that has always been inside you…”

,,Stop talking nonsense and get to the point!” he growled dangerously, ready to face any attack or any trick she would try on him to finally get the revenge that she most definitely must have been craving for centuries. 

What he's done to her wasn’t something that could just be forgiven after all… and he had no doubts that what once used to be a passionate, hot, burning love between the two of them already went up in flames of his betrayal and turned it into cold, grey ashes of hatred and need for vengeance a long time ago.

,,You think I hate you…?” she asked quietly, her intense gaze feeling like it was burning traces of its blue flames straight into his soul.

,,Who do you have me for? A foolish, naive idiot?” he scoffed and rolled his eyes, trying hard not to let her know in any way what her presence was doing to him, how her voice was sending shivers down his spine, how the light touch of her hair on his arm was making his heart beat rapidly, how the idea of her skin under his fingers was clouding his mind with wild desires he should definitely not be thinking about ,,if you didn’t hate me after what I’ve done to you, I think I’d lose all my remaining respect for you for good.” 

,,I’ll be honest with you, that’s something I’ve been fighting against for centuries,” she sighed and took a few steps back, turning her back to him as if the idea of looking at him suddenly didn’t appeal to her anymore, ,,I wanted to hate you. I tried so hard, I forced myself every day to feel nothing but contempt and anger whenever I would think about you. And I felt humiliated beyond measure to find out I was unable to do it… I was so ashamed of myself that I couldn’t give you all my hatred and wrath, because that was the least you would have deserved after betraying me.”

,,Every single word coming out of your mouth is a lie,” he growled, however felt somehow strangely unsure whether he truly hoped her words weren’t true or whether he hoped for the exact opposite, ,,the woman I once knew and loved would never exchange revenge for such pathetic sentiment. You were cruel, unforgiving, heartless… that’s what I loved and adored you for.” 

,,Pathetic sentiment?!” she snapped at him with sudden anger in her sharp voice, turning around abruptly and taking those few steps back to him quickly, grabbing his right hand, her touch immediately making his forearm glow with dark light that after a few seconds formed into the ancient mark of two intertwining flames on his skin, a mark that he believed was gone for good a long time ago. 

,,You call _this_ pathetic sentiment?” she whispered, her sudden burning rage finally reminding him of the woman he remembered, her fingers slowly intertwining with his and their shared touch making the same mark appear on her body on the exact same spot.

,,You may think about me whatever you want, you may call me whatever you like, but our union is indestructible and everlasting. We are one…”

As she said those words, their marks started glowing with even stronger, blinding light that gradually turned into hot blue flames licking the skin of their joined hands, biding them together by the raw, violent, almost uncontrollable fire that symbolized the invincible, unbreakable union of their intertwining magic, of their shared lives, of their indivisible destinies.

,,Don’t you remember that night when we made this promise to each other?” she whispered, her eager eyes glowing with sudden excitement behind the bright blue fire, ,,you said you didn’t care about any consequences. That you didn’t care we were supposed to be sworn enemies. That you would forever pledge yourself to me, pledge your human nature to me by a promise, imprint your animal nature to me by an act, if I was willing to do the same for you. And I was…”

She slowly lifted her hand, her fingers touching his face in a gentle caress that made his frozen heart melt so vulnerably and helplessly, melt under the tender, long forgotten touch as well as under the flaming passion behind her eyes as she was saying those words.

,,… so we connected our magic in a bond so strong that it was invincible. We connected our lives, swearing everlasting loyalty to each other while uniting our heated bodies under the moonlight, our bodies that carved each other so desperately and completed each other so perfectly, during that night for the first time, ending the age of our innocence for good by finally making love like nothing else in our lives mattered anymore…”

Her passionate words made him recall that very night so vividly as if it happened yesterday. Every single touch, every single kiss, every single moment… their union was perfection at its best. Because it wasn’t just a mindless, meaningless act of two eager bodies overdosing on lust, it was so much more. It was a promise to last for the eternity, a promise to tie their souls together and to never crave anyone else for the rest of their lives. An oath of such strong, unbending loyalty was something that could only be given once in a lifetime. And so even after she was dead for centuries and their vow was already covered in the lifeless, grey dust of long years, buried in the past that could never return, he still honored that oath, he kept his promise by never even thinking about breaking it. 

His body wasn’t spared of any natural cravings and desires after her death, yet his vow held much greater importance in his eyes, since his loyalty wasn’t something he would just throw away and let burn in the flames of the first temptation that would cross his path. She was his first and only one. Never after did he touch anyone else with the intimacy he touched her. He was undoubtedly a man of many mistakes and despicable, cruel deeds, however once he promised his devotion to anyone or anything, there was nothing in the world that could make him break that vow and betray his own word.

Until he did exactly that…

,,I broke our promise,” he whispered quietly, the regret and guilt the tried to suppress inside him for centuries washing over him in a sudden, crashing, destructive wave, breaking down the high walls he had built around his broken heart.

,,I know.”

,,Ariadne…,” her name escaped his lips after such a long time, its sweet sound forgotten in the shame of his deed, ,,… I… I killed you.”

The remorse from that deed was the deepest wound he had written all over his soul. Not just because he loved her beyond measure… but also because he dishonored his own vow. He betrayed himself as well. For the first and only time in his life his word turned out to be nothing but a despicable lie. And that tormenting fact was tearing him apart ceaselessly ever since. 

What kind of a man was he when he had betrayed the only two ideals he ever believed in? Loyalty and devotion. The only two honorable things in the vast ocean of his monstrous, inhuman acts, the only two things he held onto to make himself believe he was still more of a human being than just a horrid, bloodthirsty beast.

,,That’s what I let you think for centuries to make you pay for what you did. However that’s not the case. You didn’t kill me, because I managed to survive, even though forcing myself to stay alive was the hardest ordeal in my entire life.”

,,What… what do you mean?” he asked in disbelief, unsure of whether he should truly believe her words, especially under these circumstances when he wasn’t even sure if she was real and neither if he was still alive or already dead, ,,I _did_ kill you… I saw you draw your last breaths…”

,,That doesn’t matter now anyway,” she sighed, flickers of sudden pain flashing quickly behind her piercing eyes as she let go of his hand, making the flames that bound them disappear so abruptly as if they had never been there.

,,I just want you to tell me… how did it feel? How did it feel to stab me in the back after all those years, after everything we shared, after everything we gave to each other? How did it feel to burn all our promises to ashes and see me dying at your feet, having my blood all over your hands?”

,,Ariadne…”

,,Or actually, you know what I’m even more curios about?” she scoffed, anger flashing behind her eyes as her lips formed into a cruel, sardonic smile, ,,how did it feel all those years before, when you decided to divide your loyalty between two opposing sides, when you first decided to betray the man who gave you everything?”

,,That’s enough! Stop it!” he shouted furiously, his guilt tormenting him more and more by each word she let out of her mouth.

She knew very well what his sore spot has been all those years… she knew how desperate he’s always been to find a way to be devoted to both sides, unwilling to admit it was impossible, and eventually paying for this mistake by having to make the most difficult decision in his life…

,,I know what loyalty has always meant for you… and yet you betrayed all of it because you were so foolish you believed it could be split. So how did it feel all those years going behind Ogron’s back, being by his side, pretending to be his faithful brother and helping him achieve his goal during the day, while making passionate, heated love to his worst nemesis during the night…?”

,,What do you think?!” he snapped at her, unable to hold back the anger her hurtful words ignited inside him, ,,how do you think being torn every single day feels?! How do you think lying into the face of my brother, the man who saved my life and gave me power, whom I respect and admire more than anybody else, feels?!”

,,No regrets from lying to me…?”

,,What do you mean? You knew I was playing a double game,” he growled, ashamed of even saying those words.

,,However | had no idea your little double game is going to end by you choosing your brothers over me when the moment to make that decision came, I had no idea I was going to be the one to pay with my own blood for your cowardly indecisiveness! My own blood that ended on your hands, of all people… because you decided that your family mattered more than me!”

Her words were full of spiteful anger and nothing in her tone suggested the presence of her inability to hate him, that inability she declared to have just a few minutes ago. 

,,You knew I was torn from the first moment I met you. You should have been more careful. You should have known it might not end up to be you whom I choose to follow for the rest of my life.”

His words were nothing else but a desperate attempt to excuse his own inexcusable sins, not even so much in her eyes than in his own. Not that it could truly matter… that act was done a long time ago and nothing could change the wretched guilt that kept following him around every day. He truly _was_ a monster…

Surprisingly enough, the outraged expression on her beautiful face inexplicably turned much softer after hearing those words. She slowly took a step towards him, eliminating the small distance between their bodies and pressed her chest against his, intertwined the fingers of her one hand with his and placed the other one on his face.

Her lips were so close… he had to push her away. He couldn’t allow her to tantalize his senses and cloud his mind anymore. He has decided a long time ago. His loyalty didn’t belong to her anymore. 

However his body was burning with desire and something inside him wanted to grab her, press his lips against hers, unite their bodies once again after those torturously long centuries, unite all of him with all of her at least for those few, short, intense moments, and then forget for good if he had to. 

,,Don’t worry, my love…” she whispered gently, her lips almost brushing against his, ,,we will have everything we once lost. And it will be sooner than you think… I’ll never leave you again, even after all you’ve done. You’ll see me again soon, and this time we’ll only belong to each other…”

As she said those words, her body started slowly disappearing right in front of his eyes, fading away in the strong light that emerged from behind her, in the strong, sudden rays that unexpectedly blinded him, so he had to cover his eyes, even though all he wanted to do was to grab her body and press it against his, never allowing her to leave, never allowing that touch of her skin against his become only an intangible, pale memory again.

However that was not possible… she was fading away, leaving him behind, leaving him alone with his misery and remorse once again…

After a few seconds he slowly started realizing that something felt different. Something felt much more… alive all of a sudden. Much more real. Was it his body? Could his mortally wounded body truly begin to breathe again, could his heart truly begin to beat like nothing happened, could she truly have chosen to somehow breathe life into his inevitable, slowly approaching death…? 

He started seeing light again. This time it was real light, coming from the world he thought he already left for good. His eyes were opening, although his vision was completely blurred and he couldn’t recognize anything. And he heard some distant voices… what was it that they were saying…?

,,… that’s impossible!”

,,It’s not! I’m telling you, I saw her, she even defeated me before I managed to do anything!”

,,No…! No! I don’t believe it!”

,,Ogron, it’s true! Why would you think I’m lying to you?”

,,Because I saw her die! You know I made sure that my dear twin sister, that damned sick bitch I’ve been fighting against for centuries, would _never_ draw another breath again, I took care of it a long time ago!”


	18. Art of War

The last thing Roxy remembered was pain. So much agonizing, excruciating pain that she wished to die immediately, that she wished for her life to end in the blink of an eye without having to deal with any more suffering and blood. If she had enough strength she would even ask him to kill her on the spot by some dark spell, she would beg him not to leave her die in agony, she would swallow all of her pride and throw away of all of her dignity and beg him on knees to have mercy and end her, not to leave her lose her sanity from all that tormenting, unspeakable pain in her last moments. 

However as she slowly started waking up, doubting whether she was still alive or whether she was already opening her eyes on the other side, her first thought was nothing else than a huge relief that she hasn’t done that. She might have died in anguish and pain, however she managed to keep her pride and dignity intact. Because he wouldn’t answer her desperate plea for mercy anyway… he wanted her to suffer as much as it was physically possible, he wanted to make sure each drop of her blood would be an agonizing way for her to pay off her debt, the debt she had for taking the life of his brother…

After a while she started realizing this strange state her body and her mind were in actually felt nothing like death, or at least that’s what she supposed. Everything seemed so familiar, somehow so ordinary… she vaguely realized her head was resting on something pleasantly soft, her fingers were touching some comfortingly smooth material, her whole body experienced the soothing sensation of this unknown, mysterious safety, being covered by something warm and soft… 

Perhaps this all would feel so good that she could easily start believing she was no longer a part of that world where she lived her life so far, however one thing suddenly made her completely convinced that was not the case. The pain… it was still there. Less intense and much more bearable, just like a numb, pale reminder of her excruciating torment, however undeniably still relentlessly lingering in her exhausted body, in her stomach, in her neck and mostly in her chest… oh, that pain in her chest was becoming more and more intense by each second, until it almost felt like his dagger was still there, sunk deep inside her mortally wounded heart…

That distressing sensation made her gasp loudly and wake up completely as she forced herself to open her eyes, as if she believed this was just some sort of an unrealistic nightmare that she could wake herself from, if she wanted it bad enough. 

Her body moved subconsciously and she somehow found herself in a sitting position a few moments later, her head spinning and her vision blurred, however the pain was still there, perhaps even worse now after that sudden, abrupt movement.

She tried to breathe in deeply a several times to regain her focus and make the strong, unpleasant sensation in her chest and stomach fade away at least a little, trying to convince herself that by each exhale she let out from her lips it would gradually get weaker and more bearable.

And surprisingly enough, after a few seconds she found out it truly worked… the pain was much less intense and her vision was getting less blurred and abstract by each moment until she finally saw everything clearly once again.

She found herself in a big, spacious room that looked simple and luxurious at the same time, the high white ceiling and huge windows provided it with a lot of pleasantly warm light of the soothing summer sunset, however the rest of the room seemed to be decorated in rather dark shades, fancy looking black furniture and a huge ebony double bed that she was lying in, dark grey silky covers surrounding her weak body that was almost tortured to death by pain probably not so long ago, giving her some much-needed comforting sensation of warmth and luxury.

Where was she…? She has never seen this place before. Did somebody find her back there in the forest and saved her life? That could be the only logical explanation to the question how was she even still alive, however in that case why was she in this room, that definitely looked way to fancy for the one that could be found in a hospital? 

She slowly got up from the bed, careful not to make any sharp movements anymore, deciding to have a look around this mysterious place, hoping to find at least something that might give her a clue about where was she and why was she there in the first place. 

Her feet touched the soft, smooth black rug by the bed and she took a few slow steps, trying to ignore the pain that seemed to be gradually returning in a rather unpleasant way. The first thing she decided to have a look at was a high shelf filled with books from top to bottom. It was nothing else than her curiosity taking over her, she didn’t truly believe that finding out about the room’s owner’s taste in literature would actually reveal something about him or her, but the collection of those books seemed rather impressive, so why not have a look?

She stopped in front of the high black shelf, gently touching the books, her fingers moving slowly along their covers. She had no idea which one to choose… being a a bookworm that she always was, she’d probably want to pick them all out and read them one by one, breathing in the pleasant smell of the pages and enjoying the sound of turning them around. Unfortunately though, she probably didn’t have that much time so she would have make a decision eventually.

Her fingers stopped gently caressing the covers and rested on one tiny book, almost invisible between all those thick volumes surrounding it. She pulled it out from the shelf and turned it around to see its name, however was left quite taken aback when she found out it was not written in a language, neither in letters, that she could understand. The symbols seemed familiar though, and from their complicated, elaborate look she supposed they might be Chinese characters.

 _,,That’s interesting,”_ she thought, _,,a book written in Chinese? I don’t think many people around here know how to speak that language… still, it’s quite fascinating, I wonder what it is about…”_

,,Than one is called the Art of War.”

Her fingers involuntarily let go of the book that afterwards ended up down on the floor, and she almost let out a scream from shock when she heard that voice behind her all of a sudden. As she turned around in one quick, abrupt movement, her heart stopped beating for a second. She was looking into the piercing icy blue eyes of the man who tried to kill her, who stabbed her right into the heart the last time he was this close to her…

,,It’s an interesting book,” he said in an indifferent tone of a casual conversation, as if nothing of what he’s done to her ever happened and slowly stared walking towards her, ,,taught me a lot of things I needed to know to achieve my victory and to learn how to never lose, even though it’s centuries old, written even long before I was born. However, that doesn’t really matter. Some things never change. The ancient essence of the war and its most fundamental rules are one of those things, I suppose.”

As he finished, he stopped right in front of her, looking into her eyes for a short moment, turning her body into stone from that sudden shock and petrifying fear, and then he unexpectedly bent down, picking up the book she didn’t even realized she dropped on the floor when he almost gave her a heart attack caused by his unexpected presence.

She felt like she wasn’t even able to breathe in that terrifying moment when his body was so close to hers again, making shivers of fear run down her spine and undoubtedly turning her face as white as the snow.

Nothing of this made any sense… if he was here, then that would suggest this was probably his room. And if this was his room, that must have meant he was the one who saved her… but that was a complete nonsense. Why on Earth would he try to kill her, stab her to death and leave her in the abandoned forest, telling her to die alone with her guilt, and than come back for her, saving her life and taking her with him, even letting her rest in his own bed? What kind of a twisted game was he playing with her?

She knew she had to find out the answer to that question as soon as possible, however now she had to focus on immediately regaining her composure, so that under no circumstances he could see how scared to death she already was. She knew he hated weakness… so if she seemed weak or terrified even for a short while, she was almost convinced she would lose his interest in a blink of an eye, which without a doubt would be something way too dangerous to risk. No, she had to keep his attention for long enough to find out what was going on, perhaps even somehow smartly talk him into telling her about this entire situation she found herself in…

,,Yes, I’ve head about that book,” she replied completely composedly, ,,it was written by one of the most brilliant strategists of the ancient Chinese Empire, consists of thirteen chapters, while each one of them talks about a different aspect of war, military, strategy and tactics. It’s one of the most influential military books even written and affected the view on the matters of war in many different countries and cultures, never loosing its significance even after so many long centuries. Many people consider it an undying masterpiece.”

She was aware of the fact that he most definitely didn’t expect such an answer, so she couldn’t help but enjoyed his surprised expression, feeling quite proudly satisfied, meanwhile inside her head she was eternally grateful to herself for not listening to her father, who always used to tell her she spent way too much time reading and learning about different books, that either fascinated her or were simply too valuable and generally appreciated to be just ignored. Who would have thought that knowing a few things about an ancient Chinese classic could prove to be such a useful knowledge one day? Now she definitely got him interested.

,,Well, I must admit I’m impressed,” he chuckled slightly after a while, returning the book to its place, ,,and I don’t say that very often, I suppose you’ve figured that out. I wouldn’t expect a young little fairy to know so much about old Chinese military literature. And here I was, thinking you’re just another pretty face… but I’m surprised to find out that you also seem to be pretty smart,” he added in a slightly mocking tone.

She ignored his teasing comment and reached for the book, pulling it out again and opening it, curious whether it truly was written in its original language. It was.

,,I’m surprised as well…”

,,What is there to be surprised about?” he chuckled again, ,,you want to tell me you didn’t expect to find an ancient book on the topic of war in my library?”

,,No,” she scoffed and turned her gaze to him, ,,considering all your history filled with blood and cruelty, you’re exactly the type of a person in whose library I would expect to find loads of volumes on the topic of what’s the best way to heartlessly destroy your enemies and achieve the ultimate victory. I simply didn’t know you speak Chinese.”

,,It _that_ what you’re so surprised about?” he raised his eyebrow in an amused way and leaned against the bookshelf with one shoulder, ,,I’ve lived on this planet for centuries, sweet little fairy, did you forget about that? That’s enough time to learn every single language there is and ever was.”

,,Oh, well…,” she turned her gaze away looking at the books again, feeling uncomfortably humiliated all of a sudden, since she just asked a question she quite apparently haven’t thought through, ,,… _every_ language you say? Is that how you’ve been spending your free time when you didn’t happen to have any fairies to kill and torture at the moment?” she quickly added in a mocking tone, hoping he would forget about her not exactly smart question.

,,Perhaps not every single one, however I’d still say my linguistic knowledge is quite impressively extensive,” he said with a conceited smirk playing on his lips, which suddenly made an idea cross her mind.

He apparently seemed like someone who loves to impress people and be admired by them, so stroking his ego a little might only give her some much-needed advantage…

,,Well, I certainly _am_ impressed,” she said and shot him a short, shy glance underneath her lashes meanwhile her lips formed into a coy smile, ,,I’ve always admired people who could speak many languages… there’s something strangely attractive about that…”

,,Oh, is there…?” he smirked as he stopped leaning against the high shelf and took a few steps towards her, catching her chin to make her look at him, ,,…tell me more.”

,,I’ve heard someone saying that knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom… just as reading books. Your collection impressed me right at the moment I’ve noticed it, and now it seems even breathtaking when I think about in how many different languages are these books written. And that you know how to speak them all…”

A small smile played on his lips as he enjoyed the sound of her flattering words. She was a smart one for sure… and he liked this little game she was playing. He decided would let her continue in those sugary compliments and empty sweet talk, making her believe that she could truly manage to manipulate him… oh, he was going to enjoy this.

,,I like the way you speak, little fairy… you’ve got my attention now, but you may lose it soon, so if I were you, I’d continue.”

Inside her head she congratulated herself on being able to see though him so fast and so precisely… he really seemed to soak up every single drop of her astonished admiration like it was water. If flattery was his weak spot, manipulating him might turn out to be quite easy.

,,I really admire the fact that you seem to know how much power can wisdom provide and that you also know where to look for it. I don’t know much about your past, but I’m sure that with so much knowledge about war, power, leadership and selfish manipulative politics that you have, none of your enemies ever stood a chance…”

,,Selfish manipulative politics? What makes you think I know something about that? Why would a dark wizard need to have knowledge about some pathetic power strife between weak, ordinary humans?” he asked, planning to make her struggle a little by questioning her words, curious whether she was truly smart enough to keep up the conversation without embarrassing herself.

,,I suppose if someone wants to have power they have to come across other people who have it. That’s who they steal it from afterwards. I’m just guessing, but perhaps your goal wasn’t always to defeat fairies… people always had a lot of power in this world, even without having magic.”

,,Smart assumption, but you still don’t have no way to prove it.”

,,I do, actually,” she answered immediately, gently catching his hand that still held her chin and pushed it away, giving him a small smile that together with that almost imperceptible caress of her fingers slowly started seducing him once again… oh, he really liked how she played her little game. How cunning, trying to distract him in all ways possible…

She turned her gaze back to the shelf, picked out a book without any hesitation and handed it to him. She noticed it a short moment before, which she was really thankful for, because if she didn’t she would probably have no suitable answer for his question and would humiliate herself once again. 

His lips formed into a small smile as he took the book from her, making sure their fingers brush against each other for a short second. The books was quite old, its pages already gaining a soft shade of pale yellow after so many times they were turned around during all those years, studied endlessly during sleepless nights, since in his eyes this work truly was an undying masterpiece. On its cover in black letters of beautiful, elaborate calligraphy there was its name in its original Italian language, _Il Principe_ , written by Nicolo Machiavelli. Another centuries old book, famous, or infamous according to many, for its abandonment of morality, saying that gaining ultimate, limitless power, even if in ruthless, abominable ways, is the purpose that can justify any morally questionable deeds. That the end justifies the means. 

,,The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli, another book I’m not surprised to find here. You really _did_ spend centuries gaining knowledge about how to achieve and keep power in the most effective ways… now wonder you’ve become such a formidable, feared man…,” she whispered, catching him in her trap of flattery more and more by each word, however unfortunately she still had no idea how to get herself out from this situation. 

She realized though that her initial fear, the one she felt as sudden wave of shock when she noticed him in the room for the first time, was now completely gone. She actually enjoyed this conversation, and even if it wouldn’t help her find a way out of here, she might at least learn something more about him, about his strengths or weaknesses, about how his mind worked… any information about her enemy could prove to be very useful one day.

,,Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved,” he said after a while as a response to her words calling him a feared man, which he without any doubt enjoyed hearing very much.

,,Such mindset fits you perfectly. Sounds like something Machiavelli would say,” she remarked, shooting him one another glance with that seductive little smile that she knew for sure had an effect on his desires. Maybe at this point she was just unnecessarily playing with fire, but she couldn’t help herself. Something about his power-hungry ambitions and all the effort he put into studying to fulfill them fascinated her so much… besides it looked like she finally found someone who shared her passion for knowledge and wisdom stored in books. Even if it was her worst enemy.

,,That’s probably because he did,” he smirked, opened the book in his hands and turned around a few pages before handing it back to her and taking a few steps so that he could stand behind her back and look at it over her shoulder.

Her eyes fell on the words written in Italian and before he could even try to show her where exactly among all those words and letters was the mentioned quote, she somehow managed to find it immediately.

,,Dal momento che l'amore e la paura possono difficilmente coesistere, se dobbiamo scegliere fra uno dei due, è molto più sicuro essere temuti che amati,” she read it out loud and slightly turned her head backwards and up to have a look at the somehow shocked expression on his face, since she knew she managed to surprise him once again. Again, she was eternally grateful to herself for making a decision to start learning a foreign language a few years ago, and since the sound of Italian somehow always appealed to her, the question _which one?_ was answered very quickly and without any doubts. What a lucky coincidence…

,,You keep impressing me, little fairy,” he chucked as his fingers caught her chin again and lifted it slightly, this time more gentle than ever before, making the distance between their lips tantalizingly small. 

Her heart began beating faster from that sudden, unexpected touch and something was telling her she should stop now, until she still could, pull herself away and ignore the relentless signals of desire that her body was distracting her with again, making her feel like her blood turned into hot, uncontrollable fire in the moment when he touched her in that gentle, yet somehow so desirably possessive way…

,,But if you’re going to attempt to speak Italian in the future, make sure to improve your pronunciation,” he said with an unexpected teasing smirk and the touch of his fingers on her skin was suddenly gone, as well as the warmth of his body behind her back, that until that moment she didn’t realize could be so addictive...

She decided she was not going to think, the temptation to feel his touch once again, to let him cloud her mind with that sweet darkness of irresponsibility was too unbearable, so she turned around abruptly and caught his hand that was already putting the book back to its place. 

,,How about _you_ taught me how to do that? After all, I’ve only been learning that language for a few years, but you, on the other hand, probably speak it for centuries, so I’m sure your pronunciation must be as perfect as if it was your first language…,” she smiled as she let more words of flattery escape her lips, already knowing this will work better than anything to get his attention back, while taking a careful step towards him and hoping it would be enough for him to grab her waist and pull her into his arms…

What was wrong with her? Why was she even thinking like that? Was she completely insane? The man stabbed her with a dagger right into her heart, he wanted her do die and than for some mysterious reason saved her, a mysterious reason than most definitely wasn’t his remorse or him having at least some mercy inside that cold heart made of stone… so for whatever reason she was there, it definitely wasn’t any favor he made her. He must have had some evil plan inside his mind and right now he was just playing with her mind to keep her in the suspense of not knowing what he was going to do to her next… 

And despite all of those very rational, undoubtedly logical arguments telling her she should finally stop playing this game with him, she still wanted him. She wanted him more and more each second, she gradually stopped caring about the danger completely, actually there was something so appealing about the fact that she was now without any question playing with fire…

A subtle grin slowly spread across his lips as he saw that raw desire behind her eyes once again, suddenly making all of him want to make her his right there and in every way possible… why was it so hard to control his desires when he was around her? Not many girls and women managed to make him lose his senses so easily, but whenever he was around her it was like all of his emotions suddenly turned into that strange raging storm of fascination intertwining with lust…

However, he wouldn’t let her know, at least not yet. Until this little flirtation would still be entertaining enough for him, he would continue in it. But after her words start boring him… well, she should have though twice before trying to seduce him, because she might not like the consequences of her actions…

,,What makes you think it isn’t my first language?” he asked with a little smirk, his hands almost subconsciously reacting to her close proximity by placing themselves on her hips and pulling her closer gently, so that their chests touched lightly in their intimate closeness, knowing how tempting and tantalizing this gesture would seem to her.

,,What…?” she asked with surprise written all over her face, ,,do you want to tell me it is?”

,,Maybe… would that that really be so shocking?” he scoffed amusedly, however inside his head he was really unsure why was he even telling her those things. 

,,No… I just didn’t expect that,” she smiled as she put her arms around his neck, slowly pulling herself even closer to his embrace, ,,your accent doesn’t really suggest you might have Italian roots…”

,,Oh, believe me, little fairy, learning how to speak in a different accent is the easiest from all the things you decide to do when you want to leave certain parts of your past behind… I’ve changed much more than just that,” he whispered, leaning closer towards her lips, gradually letting his senses become sweetly seduced by her scent, by her skin, by her voice…

,,So you have a past you want to leave behind…”

,,Doesn’t everybody?”

,,Well, I don't’…”

,,That’s only because you’re so young. Because your youth is still sparing you from so many things that could change that pure, innocent soul in such brutal ways you would never recognize it anymore.”

,,Is that what happened to you…?”

Her fingers slowly made their way into his hair and she already knew that she was a goner, realizing the only thing she wanted at this point was to let his lips claim hers in a passionate, heated union that would cloud her mind completely and keep her in that pleasurable delirium as long as possible…

His fascination with her grew stronger and stronger each second and he didn’t even try to deny it. He expected her to be afraid, to tremble in fear when her eyes fell on him again, that’s the reaction he was used to during all those centuries of killing and torturing fairies, those weak, pathetic things that feared even the slightest reminder of his presence. But she was so different… 

And he couldn’t figure her out, he had no idea what was going on in that mind of hers, was she truly so brave and fearless or was it just plain foolishness and a pitiful lack of experience and common sense? Either way, she was an enigma to him, a fascinating, mysterious, impenetrable enigma that provoked not only his senses and his body, but his mind as well…

,,You ask dangerous questions. If I were you I would think twice if I truly want to know the answer...”

,,Maybe it is dangerous, but you have to know your enemy well in order to win your battles, right? Isn’t that written in the Art of War…?” she chuckled, running her fingers down his neck and enjoying the excited shivers on his skin that her touch was causing him.

,,Actually, the Art of War says that's only one half of the success. The other half, just as important, is knowing yourself, my dear… and I really doubt that you do. You don’t even properly realize what you want at this moment, and definitely not what you _should_ want. Because something tells me what you crave right now is certainly not something your reason would approve of…”

This little battle of wits was pleasure and agony at the same time for him. However he told himself he would continue, get to know the most of her mind first and get to know the most of her body after…

,,Maybe you’re right, but since I might be a lost cause in that, I should just do my best to find out the most about my enemy, so I could stand at least some chance, don’t you agree?”

,,I don’t, actually,” he chuckled amusedly, ,,trying to get to know your enemy, an enemy who’s infinitely stronger than you on top of that, without even being able to know yourself, is the most stupidly dangerous thing you could do. Because your foolishness and lack of experience will allow the person you’re fighting against to deceive you by catching you in a net of cunning lies, the scheming lies they want you to believe in, without you having any idea about their plan, still convinced you’re the one playing your little game with them. But in reality, it’s the other way around and by the time you find out your enemy revealed nothing else about themselves than complete lies, it’s too late and you’ll realize _you’re_ the one who’s been defeated.”

,,You mean something like catching yourself in a trap because you think their pretense is who they really are?” 

As she whispered her words she was already in a state where she was barely able to think straight, barely able to focus on anything else than the torturous proximity of his lips, that somehow seemed to get closer and closer by each passing moment… hearing more words escaping those lips perhaps simply didn’t appeal to her anymore. She wanted them in a different way… and she knew he craved the exactly same thing.

,,Exactly,” a small smile spread across his lips and before she even realized what was going on, his fingers dug into her hips and she felt how he turned her around, pressing her back against the wall in one quick, abrupt movement.

,,Pochi vedono come siamo, ma tutti vedono quello che fingiamo di essere.”

The meaning of his words was something she realized only vaguely, something about how only a few are able to see past a person’s pretense and know who the person truly is. She even dimly remembered it was a quote from Machiavelli’s book, the one they were talking about earlier, meanwhile she somehow realized that those words escaped his lips with so much natural easiness, flawless accent and perfect pronunciation that now she would have no problem believing his mysterious past was hidden somewhere in the old, beautiful streets and breathtaking cathedrals of Renaissance Italy… however all of these thoughts and assumptions were subconscious and didn’t really matter anymore. 

And she didn’t have any more time to think about them even if she wanted to… because in that moment he finally decided to end her tormenting agony of burning desire and united their lips in a touch of pure, raw passion that was held back for way too long, for such a long time that now it inevitably exploded as a fiery volcano of their mutual, heated feelings, the feelings they desperately tried to imprison in an icy cage of denial until they realized the fire were too strong to say locked away forever, so strong its prison was melted down, making them both realize they finally lost their pointless battles and therefore liberating them from their own meaningless, conceited pride.

Their intertwining, quickened breaths, their lips like flames, her fingers digging into in his blood-red hair, his fingers into her hips, pushing her body into his tight embrace, one of her hands moving down subconsciously, fingers caressing his neck, until she felt the fabric of his clothes underneath them and grabbed his shirt with a desperate, tenacious grip…

She savored each moment of that kiss, letting him lead her completely inexperienced lips in a way that she could only describe as pure perfection. Her mind felt like it was completely blank, unable to perceive anything around her, as if the world stopped existing, disappeared without any trace, leaving only the two of them in their delirious excitement and their vast carelessness when it came to any future consequences.

His lips moved down slowly, touching her neck… that new sensation left her completely breathless, her heart beating so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of her chest any second. Until that moment she had no idea it was even possible to experience emotions so powerful and vibrant, so desperate and so excited at the same time, so sharp they awoken her each sense to the point she felt more alive than ever, so radiant they were blinding her mind…

And he was getting drunk on this almost unbelievably delicious ecstasy, his blood getting rapidly intoxicated, and once his lips tasted the dangerous poison of that sweet delirium he wanted nothing else than to completely overdose on that addictive feeling, he wanted to forget everything that could keep them apart in any way, he wanted to pretend that this short, elusive moment when their lips and bodies were pressed against each other so eagerly, seemingly indivisible, was something that wouldn’t have any consequences… and he was realizing all along that this wasn’t enough. He craved more, so much more…

And then he heard a sound. The sound of door closing loudly behind somebody who entered the room. He pushed himself away from her neck abruptly, his heavy breaths, his hair tousled from her fingers, his skin heated with lustful desire… that was the state in which his oldest brother’s sliver eyes filled with shock and disbelief saw him. 

Gantlos truly couldn’t believe that the scene in front of his eyes could be real, there was simply no way, no logical explanation.

,,Ogron…? Care to explain something…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation: ,,Pochi vedono come siamo, ma tutti vedono quello che fingiamo di essere." - “Everyone sees what you appear to be, few see what you really are.”


	19. Five Stages of Grief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter is quite dark, it mainly focuses on depression and suicidal thoughts and it also mentions self-harm, so if you feel uncomfortable about these topics or they might possibly trigger you, I recommend you to consider whether you want to read it.

The night started gradually fading away into the weak, hopeful light of a new day, making the vast darkness that surrounded everything and held the world in the prison of black obscurity slowly lose its constantly repeating battle with the first rays of the day, the rays that already began painting the dark sky in softer, lighter shades of blue.

Anagan always used to enjoy the sunrise, to feel the soothing warmth of the barely visible sun on his face, he was always one of those people who didn’t mind getting up early just to experience the evanescent beauty of the sky slowly changing its colors and of every part of nature coming to life after the short, temporary death of the night. It made him feel something of a subconscious hopefulness, as if each day could provide him with a new purpose, a new beginning a new chance to finally do something that truly matters, even though this centuries old wish of his was a chimera he somehow never managed to fulfill.

However now it was different. No beauty or new hope came from the peaceful dawn, if something it felt like the soft light was almost mocking him, reminding him that everything around him would soon be alive again, reminding him heartlessly of the fact that the only thing that would stay frozen and dead was him, his mind, his heart, his emotions, his purpose, his will to continue this never-ending pointless journey with no final destination, that he called his life. 

A week has already passed since he decided to leave behind everything he had for good, a week from when his soul got shattered like fragile glass by the sudden, unexpected death of his youngest brother and the selfish, even less expected carelessness of his another brother, the one who was supposed to be their leader and was supposed to protect each member of his family whatever it would take, but instead of fulfilling this role, he chose the path of raging hatred and blind, pointless revenge…

A week has passed since his soul turned as dead and lifeless as Duman’s pale body on the bed where he drew his last breath. A week since he lost his home and had nowhere to go, just wandered around some blurred places he was only able to remember vaguely, lingering there like a corpse that probably made everyone wonder how was it even possible it was still alive.

First, there was denial. When he ran off to the woods and found himself in the strange state where his mind refused to believe what happened could be for real, subconsciously protecting him from the crushing, overwhelming reality, from the undeniable facts he managed to deny for a short time, building a firm, but evanescent faith in between the shocked, quickened breaths, a faith that what happened was nothing more than a nightmare, or perhaps some sort of a strange parallel reality that luckily had noting to do with how things truly were.

However, no denial can last forever. And when he started realizing that what once faded away could never come back again, he found himself in the middle of a raging storm, of furious anger intertwining and combing with desperate depression in the most tormenting way that tore his soul apart by each breath he drew, tore that raw, wounded, bloody soul apart always more and more, piece by piece, slowly and agonizingly, shredding everything he once used to be, shredding his sanity, shredding his desires, shredding the very essence of feeling a human being. And that torture couldn’t be described by words. Because he was gradually losing all of himself. 

What would happen once he finally lost himself completely? Would he disappear into thin air, would his body fade away with his mind, would he also stop existing in the memories of the people who once knew him and once were his family…? Who knows, perhaps he already did. Because all he knew was that neither Ogron nor Gantlos ever tried to look for him… if they did, they would find him. He didn’t run off so far. Perhaps it was because of that small part inside him that still hoped they would cry for him and search for him in desperation, and that once they would see him again, they would try to convince him to change his mind and come back home… that never happened. Duman must have been right all along… and even though he remembered the pain his words caused him, he was now grateful to him for at least being honest, for telling him bluntly he never considered him his family and not letting him live in all those lies his other two brothers wanted him to believe in for some inexplicable, ridiculous reason…

So there he was again, sitting on the cold ground of the completely abandoned park, leaning against the thick tree trunk behind his back, his cheeks covered in tears once again, he somehow wasn’t even consciously aware of that fact, since the tears came and went in such short intervals it wasn’t even worth noticing, with an he empty bottle of some alcohol in his hands, he had actually no idea what kind, the only important thing was it was strong enough to numb all of his emotions, for a short while at least. The truth was that he didn’t even remember when was the last time he had proper food in his mouth, perhaps it was a week ago, however now the only thing he was able to put inside his body was that liquid killer of emotional pain, experiencing the strange sensation of voluntarily choosing to be in this constant state of being drunk, which was probably the only thing still keeping him alive, somehow making the suffering at least a little more bearable.

He tried to avoid places where people used to walk around frequently, however from time to time someone passed him anyway, usually ignoring him completely, sometimes shooting a short, contemptuous glance at him before continuing in their way with hurried steps. He couldn’t care less. Let those pathetic idiots living in their happy little bubble judge, he thought, sooner or later they will experience something that will shatter their fragile lives and souls, and then they’ll know too what it feels like, then they’ll never judge again…

Suddenly he realized he was starting to experience the well-known disturbing feeling of his senses getting clearer and more focused, of his mind beginning to think too much again, of his emotions growing stronger and stronger… he was getting sober. And if there was one thing he _definitely_ didn’t want, it was to be sober.

He lifted the bottle to his mouth with that familiar, subconscious movement of his hand once again, only to realize a second later that there was not a single drop of that disgusting liquid he craved so much left inside it anymore. 

_,,What…? How is that possible…? I could swear it was full a few hours ago… or wasn’t it…? Screw it, who cares… I need to get a new one…”_

Getting up from the ground was undeniably the first thing he had to do to fulfill this desperate wish… however his body definitely didn’t feel like it. When was even the last time he closed his eyes and got some proper sleep…? Who knows… the only thing he knew for sure was that he would much rather experience the feeling of his body being so weak that he doubted it even belonged to him anymore, than to experience the horrid, excruciatingly realistic nightmares…

However the unpleasant feeling of getting more and more sober by each second was making him truly frustrated, eventually even making him feel a wave of strong, irritated anger caused by everything and nothing in particular, that resulted in him furiously throwing away the empty bottle with such force that it immediately shattered to pieces when it hit the leg of a small bench in front of him.

That broken glass reminded him so much of himself… he felt like he wanted to scream all of a sudden, scream at the top of his lungs, scream so loud he wouldn’t have to hear anything else anymore, scream so that the vast emptiness in his soul would leave him for good, scream his desperation into the world that felt like it was never his home from the moment he was born…

He didn’t even realize what he was doing when he slowly picked up one sharp piece of glass from the ground. Why, this could be so easy… why didn’t he think about it before? Was it some sort of a barrier that his natural instinct to survive subconsciously built inside his head to keep him away from such thoughts? Yes, it felt like it, those were the last remains of his will to stay, of that stubborn animalistic grip with which he held onto his life without being able to ask himself that simple, yet incredibly essential question… why? 

He felt his fingers slowly closing around the piece of glass in his hand…

_,,I’ve lost everything…”_

His grip becoming stronger and stronger…

_,,Who am I trying to fool? I have no reason to stay…”_

The sharp edges were slowly cutting through the skin of his palm…

_,,I should have done this a long time ago… what’s a little pain compared to all the pain I would leave behind…”_

The drops of dark blood were already streaming down his forearm, wetting his clothes…

And yet, despite everything, he felt no relief, no salvation, no purpose in his act. He was just… empty. Just a shell. A blank mind with just a vague, intangible idea of why was he doing what he was doing. A phantom of the man he once used to be… not that it used to be much. He had nothing to be proud of. He was as far from living his life as a good man as he could be. Why did he throw away all the chances to become somebody whom he could respect and value, to become somebody who could die without any remorse, why did he make so many wrong, despicable choices? Was it because it was the easiest way? How pathetic…

And here he was, once again choosing the easiest way… wasn’t that even more pathetic? Running away from himself like a weak coward? He had no idea who he was during his entire life, he wasn’t a good man, he wasn’t a wise man, he wasn’t a man of any significant passion or any meaningful belief… he lived as a nobody and he decided to die as one, deciding to end that centuries long, unsettling run with a sole purpose of finding who he truly was, the run he was not strong enough to finish… 

A quick thought crossed his mind, a thought about how tragic it truly was that after finishing this act he would lose his only chance to get to know himself… well, if all those centuries weren’t enough, perhaps it meant there was nothing inside him that was worth discovering in the first place. 

His hand was trembling, his sobs were quiet and incessant as his hand holding the long, sharp piece of glass was slowly moving closer and closer to his stomach, until its end finally rested against his clothes, making him realize that all he needed to do now was to muster up the courage push the glass piece, already red from the blood streaming from his wounded hand, a little deeper…

,,Excuse me? I’m sorry but you… you really shouldn’t do that… can I… can I help you somehow?”

He heard a quiet voice all of a sudden, a quiet, gentle, sweet voice… he has heard it before, he was sure about it. But whom did it belong to…? He just wasn’t able to remember, he wasn’t even able to think…

Why did this person care? Nobody seemed to care about him when they saw him in his miserable state, so why did she? Why should she be bothered about his attempt to end his life? It was none of her business…

,,No, you can’t help me… just get out. Just let me be, let me finish this…”

Until the moment he spoke Flora had no idea who was the man sitting on the cold ground while holding a long piece of glass in his hand covered in blood, pointing its sharp end towards his himself, a sight that almost made her gasp from the terrifying shock of noticing a man who was apparently just a few seconds away from committing suicide. 

However when she heard that voice… she knew immediately. And this time she couldn’t hold back the shocked gasp escaping her lips.

,,A… Anagan… is that really you…?”

She knew it was, somehow that voice managed to linger inside her mind ever since she left his room after his unexpected decision to let her go when she was already completely in his power, it managed to inscribe itself into her memory and make her remember it so vividly, it managed to make her hear his words and think about their little conversation every single day after she left him and haven’t seen him since, even though those vague thoughts were something quite subconscious, something that always managed to intertwine with the rest of her mind in a quiet, inconspicuous way, without her allowing it at all.

However the man she remembered was nothing like this broken wreck of a human, the man she remembered always seemed calm, confident and completely composed, as if every single situation he was in happened exactly according to his plan, as if he was always completely aware of all the strong, dark power he had inside him and of how that power still made sure he was invincible no matter what would happen.

But now she would hardly recognize him in the dim, weak light of the early morning, his hair was hanging loose below his shoulders, the long, dark dreadlocks falling in front of his face, his entire body, the body she remembered to be so well-built and strong, now seemed extremely weakened, pale and unhealthy, he looked like somebody who refused to even look at food for at least a weak, his hands were shaking, especially the one covered in a waterfall of dark red blood streaming down from the deep wound that he probably caused himself with the shape piece of glass he was now pointing at his stomach.

After he heard her saying his name, he turned his face to her abruptly, his vision blurred from the tears, however for some reason he could recognize the long, honey-brown hair, the lovely eyes of a light jade color, the beautiful, perfect curves of that body that used to awaken such strong desires inside him every single time his eyes feel on her, that used to cloud his mind with blind lust and that made him curse himself for letting go of the opportunity to touch her, to make her his… that was all while he was still alive. Now he couldn’t feel any of it. His emotions and desires were a frozen desert that no amount of beauty could ever melt again.

,,Hello, Fairy of Nature,” he chuckled in between his quiet sobs, ,,didn’t expect you’ll be the person I’m going to meet in my last moments, but if that’s so… I’m not really against it. Don’t get me wrong, my satisfaction is nothing you should be worried about, nothing connected to the desires you awaken in me every single time I see you… I’m just glad I won’t leave this world alone, left by everyone to my own fate, you might be whoever, I wouldn’t care, I guess…”

,,Wait, stop!” she interrupted him, his words making shivers run down her spine, panic quickly arising inside her chest, ,,please, just stop and explain this to me… I don’t understand…”

She truly couldn’t imagine how this could be possible… what on Earth happened to make him say such words? What could suddenly make him so desperate that he not only turned himself into this completely destroyed, pitiful wreck, but also bluntly, without any pretense or lies, admitted he wanted to end his life? 

He was her enemy, yes. But what did it matter now? How could she look at the desperate man on the ground in front of her and think about him as somebody whom she should try to destroy, whom she should see as somebody wicked and despicable, whom she shouldn’t under any circumstances offer her help, even if he was apparently at the lowest point of his life? Being heartless and cold was probably what would be expected from her in this situation, expected by her reason, by her friends, by common sense even… but how could she? 

,,What do you want me to explain, little fairy?” he laughed quietly again, using the back of his hand to wipe off the tiny drops of water rolling down his cheeks, ,,didn’t expect you could see me like this? Of course you didn’t… you believed my false pretense just like everybody else did, including myself, that ridiculous little pretense of being strong and invincible… well, what can you do, right? You know, villains really aren’t such tough people as they pretend to be. All we try to do is to confuse the world by our savage, cruel actions, to prevent that, God forbid, they would touch our fragile hearts made of thin, weak glass…”

He was quite surprised by the amount of words escaping his lips in this last desperate waterfall of honesty intertwining with the thoughts he had in his mind for a long time but has never spoken about them before. He didn’t even realize he was in such a talkative mood… was it the alcohol that still kept lingering in his veins? Or was it a subconscious instinct to delay what he feared so much…?

Flora saw the desperation in his face that tried to remain unnoticed, she heard how his voice trembled slightly when he was saying those words, she even met his eyes, that dark empty abyss, for a split second and what she saw was that they only screamed one raw, violent, untamed emotion… fear. He was terrified, he truly was, there was no doubt about that. And it felt like a sharp knife digging into her heart when she realized that…

,,I don’t think I’m that surprised to find out you were hiding your pain… at the end of the day, many people do, while pretending they’re fine…”

,,That’s true. One smile can hide all the pain in the world… that’s why we pretend. It’s so easy to pretend.”

,,But this is something else. This is serious, Anagan. You need help… ” she tried to convince him in soft, soothing voice, the sight of him somehow breaking her heart more and more by each second.

,,I agree. Luckily, I’m able to help myself… you should go, Fairy of Nature. I don’t think those pretty eyes should have to see something so… disturbing and bloody. Actually, why are you still here? You shouldn’t care. If something, you should be happy that you’ll have one less enemy from now on. It’s your lucky day…”

There was no way she would go. Suddenly all other things became completely insignificant and her mind only screamed one desperate plea, a plea for him to wait, not to go, to let _her_ be the one who could help him, to make this right somehow…

,,I mean it. Go. This won’t be a nice sight…,” he said quietly, pointing the shape glass at himself once again, this time with determination written all over his face.

,,If you’re really going to kill yourself, I have one last wish,” she said abruptly, trying to quickly think about some way how to continue this conversation and make him interested in talking instead of hurting himself to death.

,,Wait… shouldn’t _I_ be the one with the last wish?” he chuckled amusedly.

,,I just have to know _why_ do you want to die. What happened that…”

,,Nobody _wants_ to die. That’s nonsense. Death is not the goal, it’s not the destination where you want to arrive, it’s just a way, a way how to end the pain. When you end yourself, you end your suffering. You see? It’s this simple.”

,,Then what is you suffering, why is it so unbearable?” she kept asking stubbornly, decided she would continue to do so until she got her answer, even though she was somehow subconsciously aware of how much could hearing the story of his suffering and pain possibly hurt her, however that didn’t matter at all at the moment.

,,Oh, that’s not really so interesting as you might expect. I think my story might be quite boring actually, and to be honest, I’m convinced it’s not even worth telling and it’s definitely not worth being remembered. Don’t waste your time worrying about a man who didn’t achieve anything at all throughout his entire life, who spend his days searching for who he is, foolishly hoping he would find himself if he tried to give his life some distant, intangible purpose, hoping he would find himself in others, hoping somebody would finally shape him into something meaningful… how pathetic, isn’t it? Letting others define who you are and letting them mould you into something according to their will, so that you become something useful to them… and after centuries you find out you changed everything for them, you covered your own hands in a sea of blood for them, you let them be the only purpose of your life, you blindly became what they asked you to be, without any questions or resistance, just to find out that at the end of the day, all your sacrifice meant nothing, that even in their eyes you were nothing, perhaps just a weapon or a pawn in their game…”

Flora didn’t quite understand what he was talking about at first, and she also gradually became aware of the smell of alcohol in the air coming from the place where the broken pieces of glass were lying on the ground, so she initially came to the conclusion that he was simply drunk and wasn’t thinking straight at all, perhaps didn’t even know exactly what he wanted to say. But one thing was for sure, he was undoubtedly hurt beyond measure, his honest outburst of anger intertwining with depression was only interrupted by his own sobs, his shoulders were shaking intensely, his eyes staring to the ground and his fingers digging into his hair.

However somewhere in between his words she suddenly realized their meaning… he felt betrayed by the people he considered to be the sole purpose of his life… he must have been talking about the other wizards. 

Suddenly she felt an unexpected wave of anger washing over her. Were those men truly such heartless beasts they wouldn’t even care about one of their own, that they wouldn’t care about hurting him, one of their closest friends or perhaps even family, so much that he saw no more purpose in staying alive? 

,,You’re talking about your friends…right?” she asked carefully, hoping this question wouldn’t upset him, especially not in this fragile state he was in.

,,Friends?” he scoffed, anger and contempt written all over his face, ,,I used to call them family. Because I was convinced that’s what we were. However, not only have they the never seen me as their brother, they never valued each other’s lives in the first place. Tell me, Fairy of Nature, would you let your family die to get revenge? Of course you wouldn’t… that’s not how having a family works. Well, we weren’t a real family anyway, blood is always thicker than water I suppose, and blood was the one thing we never shared. Perhaps that’s the reason why this all happened in the first place…”

,,What happened?” she wanted to know, shocked from his words and somehow unable to believe they could be true. For some reason she always thought the wizards were so devoted to each other that they would easily give up their lives for one another, she didn’t even know why did she subconsciously felt like it was this way, since she didn’t know them at all, she just somehow always had this strong feeling when it came to them…

,,… actually… how could that be the reason?” he continued in speaking his own thoughts, ignoring her question, ,,oh no, that’s not the problem. No family ever mattered to that son of a bitch, related by blood or not, to that sick bastard who killed his own sister to get power, how could I expect somebody like that to care for anyone else than himself?” 

His words suddenly turned into a raging outburst of anger and fury, his voice trembling from all the emotions his words were carrying out from the depths of his broken heart. 

She knew she needed to get his attention somehow if she wanted to find out more to be able to help him, so even though a part of her was scared, remembering their last encounter and also considering the not quite sober state he was currently in, she still decided to take a few steps in his direction and slowly squat down next to him. Her hand was trembling slightly as it was carefully getting closer to his face, and she was constantly mustering up her courage until she finally felt the warmth of the heated skin of his cheeks, still wet from the tears, underneath her fingertips. 

Her unexpected soft touch felt like a sudden kick of electricity hitting his body and awakening his numb senses for a while, the skin of her palm was so soothingly warm and so soft, so comforting… that touch felt like a breath of life that made the sweet, refreshing air spread inside his lungs, the lungs that already refused to breathe anymore, however suddenly felt it like he perhaps didn’t want to give up on life so fast...

And something inside him broke when he experienced that touch. It broke quietly but painfully, and that pain made him let go of the anger and contempt he felt so vividly just a few seconds ago.

,,I’m such a naive little fool, right?” he smiled weakly as he finally lifted his gaze to meet those beautiful green eyes, ,,I complain about how others are, I say it’s their fault I ended up like this, but why did I believe in a possibility of at least some goodness living inside their hearts? I was looking at what those men were, I was looking at them for centuries, I was looking at their wicked deeds until I became no better than them and committed the exactly same crimes, I was looking at them but I didn’t see them… because I refused to. This is my fault, my fault only…”

,,Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she said in a soft, calming voice, ,,every conflict, whether it’s between people or inside one’s soul, has two sides and usually the truth is divided between them pretty much equally. And I understand you’re going through a lot. I understand you feel like your entire life is falling to pieces, but this,” she whispered as she gestured to the piece of glass covered by blood in his hand, ,,this is not the solution you should be looking for.”

,,Why not? I feel like I should have done this a long time ago, actually. I decided to lose my heart centuries ago, and one can’t live without a heart for a very long time. Maybe you think I did, however that didn’t really feel like life all those years. I was just surviving, and now when I’m looking back, I don’t even know why did I put so much effort into something so meaningless…”

She almost couldn’t believe the amount of emotional pain his words were causing her once again, but most of all she had no idea why was she feeling this way. Yes, she was a compassionate person, but she could never imagine she could feel so much empathy towards a man who was her enemy and who probably hasn’t done a single good deed in his entire life, just as he himself admitted it… and still, here she was, putting some great effort into preventing her eyes from crying, however it felt like her soul was already weeping with his, offering him the comfort of not being alone in his pain, even though he had no idea about it. 

,,No life is meaningless…”

,,Yes, I’ve heard that before,” he scoffed slightly, ,,but those are such empty words. Got any proof for them?”

,,My mother once told me that the world is like a giant cobweb that people build up every single day by their lives, by their decisions, by their actions. And it that cobweb just one small decision, seemingly insignificant, from one small person, can affect so many others it can change the look of the whole giant net, making the endless labyrinths inside change in unexpected ways and lead to unexpected places. That’s why no life can be meaningless. Because you leave traces of your presence in this world every single day, and those traces can affect so many things in some many ways that you, as an individual, could never even dream of having control over all of them...”

,,That’s a nice thought,” he said as a small soft smile spread across his lips, ,,your mother must be a wise woman. At least now I can explain to myself how is your mind so fascinating as well…”

She felt how her cheeks were heating up and slowly turning into a light rosy shade. She wouldn’t have thought a single compliment from him could make her react like that…

,,Well… thank you,” she said quietly, hoping he wouldn’t notice her blush, ,,but anyway, please don’t do this. Every pain gets better, time can heal everything. You know how they say grief has five stages… you might be at the lowest point of your life now, you might feel like you’re suffocating in depression, however that means you’re just one step away from the last stage, the acceptance, and after getting through that one, your wound will finally slowly start healing…”

,,Five stages of grief?”

,,Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. None of them are easy to get through I guess… but once you do, things get better…”

Her fingers slowly caressed his cheek, wiping the tears off his face. She knew she wanted to do her best to comfort and convince him, however she couldn’t explain why did the touch of his skin against her palm felt so… so good, so unexpectedly right for some reason…

,,I think you’re right, I really might have been through each one of them except for the last one… however, I want you to explain one thing to me. Why do you care so much? Why do you, you who are supposed to be my enemy, who are supposed to fight against me and destroy me at the first opportunity, care for my life more than the men I used to call my brothers, even after… after what I’ve almost done to you?” 

His voice was a quiet, weak whisper, as if he didn't have the strength to speak any louder. She wanted to answer him, however and a second later she unexpectedly felt how his fingers brushed against her hand on his cheek before covering it with his palm completely. The warmth of that touch contrasting with the cold morning made shivers run down her spine and her heart beat faster for some strange, inexplicable reason… and she didn’t understand what was going on with her when she found herself subconsciously wishing that the touch wouldn’t stop lingering on her skin anytime soon… 

What was this strange feeling? What was happening to her? It couldn’t be that… or could it? No, no way. She should be ashamed for even thinking about something like that. That idea won’t cross her mind _ever_ again. How could she even…?

She forced herself to pull her hand back, which surprisingly took a lot more effort than she would have expected, firmly decided to forget that shamelessly pleasant sensation of his skin against hers for good.

,,How could I live with myself if I didn’t try to stop you?” she asked quietly, only focusing on her aim and quickly banishing all distracting thoughts that were trying to make their way inside her head, ,,how could I let this happen? I can’t let you die like this, alone, in despair, feeling like you have no purpose, no value, and mostly when you don’t even have to go at all… if you see no other reason to continue living then… then do it for me. Please…”

,,You’re the kindest heart I’ve ever met, Fairy of Nature,” he smiled softly and that smile together with his words made her heart beat faster again, completely against her will, ,,however what you don’t know is that I’ve been dying for centuries and time never seemed to be able to heal me at all. True death is to never live, and by that I meant never to live a life in a way that truly matters… and I’ve already experienced that. I’ve raced from death only to find it sooner than anyone should, to find it inscribed in each second and every aspect of my life. And only now I realized… embracing life means accepting death. That’s my acceptance. I don’t need any other. But thank you for your effort…it really means a lot…”

,,Anagan, please, listen to me…”

,,You’ve really proved to me that angels don't only live in Heaven. It’s a shame I haven’t got to know more of them here on Earth…”

She felt like the following seconds were a result of the time somehow inexplicably slowing down, she felt as if her body turned to stone when she saw how he lifted his hand, determination written all over his face, ready to fulfill what he wished to do from the first moment, only a split second separating the sharp glass from his body…

And then she found herself in his arms. She found herself in pain. She heard her own, loud screams. 

She saw the blood, her blood on their bodies, soaking her clothes as well as his. She saw the shocked horror flashing behind his eyes. 

All because she found herself mindlessly obeying that one desperate instinct inside her… and throwing herself between him and the weapon in his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, just one short note at the end of this chapter to let you know a few things :)
> 
> First, I'd really like to thank all of you who left me comments or Kudos, you can't imagine how much that means to me, it truly motivates me to keep writing, so thank you so much, I love you all for your amazing support :D
> 
> Second, I really want to apologize because from now on, unfortunately, I won't be able to update new chapters so often, since I'm starting university next week, and I suppose I'm going to be quite busy with studying, however I'll try my best to keep writing this story, but unfortunately I think I'll only manage to upload one chapter a week at best, I'm really sorry :( 
> 
> However if you like my fanfic, please don't abandon it, since I'm definitely not planning to do so, I'll keep updating, only not so often as I used to :(
> 
> So this is it, thank you again for all your support you've given me so far, you're all amazing ♥


	20. Web of Lies

The first few seconds after hearing his brother’s voice and meeting his eyes filled with such intense, utter shock, Ogron felt as if his body suddenly lost all the ability to move, his mind all the ability to think, he was so taken aback that he just found himself standing there like a statue made of stone, unable to do anything at all.

However it didn’t take long until he realized his hands were already reacting almost subconsciously to this unexpected shock by roughly pushing the girl in his arms away, making her gasp quietly from this sudden harsh change in his behavior as the push of his hands made her tumble backwards, her tiny frame almost hitting the wall behind her. 

She knew this couldn’t result in anything good… she could only imagine how mad Ogron already must have been from the fact that Gantlos just witnessed the passionate union of their lips pressed against each other so intimately, that he saw with his own eyes the uncontrolled, heated lust of his brother and leader, that he saw that untamed, raw desire, that he witnessed how his brother’s heated skin was craving hers such with intense, raging desperation, how their hands were pulling their intertwined bodies closer and closer by each second with all the force they possessed… 

And she was right. The feeling of the shaming humiliation immediately intertwining with the strong eruption of raging anger that he experienced in that moment was agonizingly unbearable.

Because the fact that his brother just saw the shocking sight he never witnessed before, the sight that only showed how his wild physical lust looked like, as well as how the consequences of him loosing almost all control over his own body looked like, the sight that the blond wizard probably never desired to witness in his entire life, was noting compared to the even more humiliating fact that it was undeniably apparent who was the object of his strong desires… that the girl in his arms was nothing else than a fairy. And not just any fairy. The last fairy on Earth, the one whom he had every reason in the world to kill, to savagely torture to death, because she was not just the only thing separating them from their goal… she was most importantly the one who almost killed their youngest brother. And even if he survived, it definitely wasn’t thanks to her, so the anger and hatred they both felt towards her was just as intense and unforgiving as if Duman truly wasn’t among them anymore. Her intention _was_ to harm him after all, and that’s all that mattered.

At least that’s what Gantlos thought, that’s what he was firmly convinced about, however that was only up until this moment…

Ogron felt how the flames of the intimate desire inside him rapidly changed their nature all of a sudden, turning into the ones of pure, barely restrained anger, which resulted in him roughly grabbing the fragile shoulders of the young pink-haired fairy and forcefully shoving her back into the wall.

,,You’ll stay here and won’t move a muscle until I come back, do you understand?” he snapped at her, his voice filled with violent rage, his fingers digging into her body painfully and his blue eyes burning with so much raw anger that it immediately made her feel the terrified shivers running down her spine, while the petrifying fear his reaction awoken inside her turned her body into stone from head to toe completely.

She was truly horrified from witnessing how the man who touched her in such an intimate way just a few seconds ago, whose lips were pressed against her own in such fiery, passionate union, could change his demeanor so rapidly, how there was literally no trace of his affection left inside those icy blue eyes, how he treated her so roughly all of a sudden… was this truly the man she gave her first kiss to, was this the man to whom she decided to give this small, yet still important part of her innocence, was this the man whose lips have just made that indelible mark of the first touch on hers…? 

Perhaps that kiss meant nothing to him, perhaps it would simply disappear among all the memories of all the other intimate touches he definitely must have shared with so many different girls and women during all those centuries, actually she would be naive if she thought that sooner or later it wouldn’t… however she knew without any doubts that for her that sweet, addictive, delicious ecstasy his lips gave her while making her head spin and her lungs beg for air, won’t ever become something she would be able to erase from her mind so easily…

However now it didn’t matter, now she was truly scared like never before, having no idea about what things he was capable of doing to her if she tried to disobey him, so she just moved her head a in small, quick nod, knowing that it would probably be for the best if she didn’t make him any angrier than he already was by some foolish, defiant attempt of resistance.

He saw how terrified she was, and even though he didn’t exactly trust her, the fear flashing behind her eyes quickly convinced him that she wouldn’t try to do anything as stupid as defying him, so he slowly let go of her shoulders, loosening the strong grip of his hands which immediately made her let out a small, almost inaudible sigh of relief.

One last look at her beautiful face, one last quick glance at those soft, tantalizing lips… and then her turned around abruptly, quickly making his way out of the room, avoiding the eyes of his oldest brother, those silver eyes that must have been filled with so much utter disbelief mixing with raging anger and contempt…

As the red-haired wizard passed his brother, he only lifted his gaze for a short while to let him know by a quick, small gesture of his head that he wanted to talk to him outside, and then continued walking out of the room with hurried steps without stopping even for a split second, leaving the blond wizard standing in there in shock for a few more seconds, before he finally decided it was the time to get some answers. Then he turned around as well and closed the door behind him, leaving the scared young fairy alone with her trembling fear and the torturing suspense.

Ogron tried to walk away as fast as possible, unsure of what was this strong instinct to run away, was it an urge to escape from the shaming humiliation, the contemptuous look in his brother’s eyes and the harsh judgmental words that he would soon say, or was it just a desperate need to run away from that violently intense desire, that in such a mocking contrast was completely shameless, from all that burring passion that still seemed to linger inside his body and hold onto all of him with its firm, tenacious grip?

However before he managed to find out the answer, his thoughts were interrupted by a sudden feeling of a heavy hand catching his shoulder, surprisingly gently, and making him stop follow this subconscious urge to run away from everything that happened back there and still bothered his mind with such a relentless uneasiness.

He was far from being in the mood to explain anything. He was outraged, irritated, humiliated and he didn’t need to hear any words that would only convince him this was exactly the way he should feel after committing the crime of apparently possessing such strong intimate affection for a fairy, however despite all of that he still realized that Gantlos had every right to demand an answer and to demand it right now. If it was the other way around, Ogron knew he would not only demand an explanation, he would also let his brother feel his raging wrath in every single way possible, so since he didn’t want to have any more regrets from treating his brother unfairly on the top of everything that happened, he decided he wouldn’t delay the inevitable conversation any longer.

,,I really hope you have a good explanation that could make me understand why I saw what I saw back there, Ogron.”

His voice was calm, but it was far from reflecting his true feelings, his composed demeanor was nothing else than a result of the long years during which he had learned that self-control and an imperturbable mind were the only key to gaining control over every single situation, no matter how shocking or unpleasant, so not even the sight he witnessed could make him show his true emotions, the rage and the still lasting disbelief that he was hiding behind his calm voice and neutral face expression.

,,The explanation is that you can’t knock, brother!” Ogron snapped at him, his voice filled with sarcastic mockery, which was the only way of controlling his anger that he could come up with at the moment.

,,I’m being serious, Ogron!” Gantlos said, raising his voice slightly, ,,the least you owe me now is an explanation! The least you owe me now it is to make me understand why have you done that… why have I seen you kissing that fairy like there’s no tomorrow, like she’s all you ever wanted, why have you… why have you betrayed us like that?”

His voice was shaking slightly and for the first time in long years the blond wizard felt the strange, unknown feeling of of having doubts, having serious doubts whether he would be able to continue keeping his true emotions locked away, frozen under that impenetrable, thick layer of ice, that so far always managed to hide his anger whenever it was needed.

,,Betrayed?” Ogron asked as he turned around abruptly to face his brother, finally finding the determination to look into his eyes and immediately noticing all the things he was afraid he would see behind them, ,,I kissed a girl, Gantlos. That is neither a crime nor a betrayal. Stop bothering me with such ridiculous overreactions.”

His words were said in a sarcastic, mocking scoff, however that was nothing else than a pretense to keep his pride intact, to keep his ego just as unbending and conceited as it always has been, stubbornly refusing to admit in front of his brother that he knew he wasn’t right this time, that he knew he should feel ashamed for his actions, that he realized he made a mistake… no, he never admitted his mistakes. No matter how big and serious they were, he had an unspoken, somehow subconscious rule inscribed deeply inside his mind for long centuries, a rule never to let others see him as someone who was so weak he would admit that he has done something wrong, that his actions and his conduct weren’t always as flawless and perfect as expected from somebody, who wanted to see himself and also wanted the others to see him as a leader.

,,You think this is overreaction? You say it was just a kiss?” Gantlos asked quietly, clenching his fists to hold back his anger, ,,maybe it was, but did you intend for it to stay that way? I saw you Ogron, and I know you for centuries, I know you well enough to know that you’re the kind of a man who either takes everything or nothing.”

,,Listen to yourself, Gantlos! Your words are a complete nonsense, I would never…”

,,Don’t try to lie to me! I’m not blind, I saw you wanted that for girl more that just one innocent kiss!”

He felt as if something inside him was breaking slowly but inevitably, as if the high walls of his unshakable self control were gradually falling down, piece by piece, making him realize he didn’t even want to hold back his anger anymore. Why should he? Why shouldn’t Ogron finally admit his fault? And why shouldn’t he let his brother see that his unwavering, self-absorbed pride and his shameless lies would change nothing about the whole situation, would change nothing about his opinion, would change nothing about the truth? 

Their leader always lived in the constant belief that he could justify whatever he did in front of his brothers and expected that they would all accept it. And all those years he did. He blindly respected the man, he carelessly overlooked his mistakes just because was asked to, he supported his leader’s excessive pride by staying silent even if inside he disagreed, he never questioned his leadership simply because it was the easiest thing to do.

However now he felt like this the firm barrier of his centuries-long silence was getting shattered like think glass, and the reason wasn’t just the fact that his brother was apparently loosing all his values and beliefs, kissing a fairy, one of those creatures they all swore to hate and despise with all their passion and that they swore to torture, kill and make pay for their crimes by blood. The reason wasn’t just the fact that his brother apparently had no shame and no respect for their youngest brother, kissing the girl who tried to kill him and almost succeeded, who had the shapeshifter’s blood on her hands, who almost took a member of their small family from them all and almost made his body turn into a lifeless white corpse buried deep under the ground for the next eternity. The main reason wasn’t even the fact that his leader left his little brother to die as if he meant nothing for him, that he abandoned him so carelessly when he was the only one who could possibly help him. 

The true reason was his extensive pride, his inability to ever admit he was wrong, his constant, shameless demand for respect even when he already deserved none. All these things were an unchanging, unbending part of his personality during all those long centuries, and Gantlos has always been willing to look past them… up until now. 

Up until now when it felt like the line has undeniably been crossed. Duman was his brother, his family. And the apparent complete lack of care, love, or even just simple respect that Ogron showed towards him though his last actions was the last straw. 

,,Gantlos, you have no idea what you’re talking about…”

,,I know what I’m talking about, Ogron, and you know it too! And if you really aren’t capable of letting go of that damned ego of yours, then just tell me this one thing! Tell me, how do you think Duman would have reacted if he was the one who saw you back there, what do you think he would say if he witnessed that you were craving to make love to the girl who almost took his life?! And how would you explain to him what would sure happen if I didn’t enter your room and didn’t interrupt you two in your little intimate session?!”

Ogron was completely taken aback by this angry outburst, he would have never expected such an emotional reaction from his oldest brother, the one who has always been the most cold-headed and the calmest one from all of them. The man he used to know changed so quickly and unexpectedly in just a few seconds, and even though somewhere deep inside he knew his brother had every right for this reaction, he still felt somehow indignant about it. Gantlos was supposed to be the calm one, he was supposed to be the water that would extinguish his fire, that was how it worked for centuries. Was truly _everything_ going to change now…?

,,Duman might be alive but he still isn’t even awake after that entire week and who knows if he’ll ever be, so excuse me if I’m not bothered about an opinion of somebody who might end up living the rest of his days somewhere between life and death, trapped in that state by some unknown magic I can’t even recognize!”

,,How can you say something like that?!” Gantlos shouted furiously, clenching his firsts so tightly he even started feeling the pain, letting the anger wash over him, finally without trying to hold it back, ,,have you really got no shame?! How can you say that he might never wake up and act so nonchalantly about it?! He is your brother! But you know what…? If you’d perhaps bother to ask me why I came to your room in the first place I would tell you something that would finally prove to you you’re not always right. Because he actually _did_ wake up.”

,,What?” Ogron asked, his voice filled with shocked disbelief mixing with hopeful relief, however something inside him still made it somehow impossible to believe the words his brother just told him.

A week ago when Duman’s wounds mysteriously healed and he started breathing again, even though he still remained unconscious, Ogron couldn’t understand anything at all about the whole situation. He couldn’t understand how was it possible that the shapeshifter managed to survive, mainly because he couldn’t explain the unsettling, worrying words of his oldest brother who claimed that he had seen his twin sister, the one who was supposed to be dead for centuries, and who apparently according to Gantlos seemed to have a plan of her own when it came to their little brother.

However the fact that against all the odds Duman somehow mysteriously escaped the claws of death and survived would simply make no sense if what Gantlos claimed to see was really true. She would be the last person to have a reason to help him… 

Anyway, he did survive, however Ogron somehow subconsciously forbid himself to have much hope when it came to his awakening from that strange coma that carried the traces of some unknown magic inscribed in its entire essence. He didn’t want to experience the pain of that horrible, agonizing loss once again… he simply couldn’t risk putting his already shattered heart at risk like that.

However now, even if he wished to hear his youngest brother’s voice once again more than anything, he suddenly felt a strong anxious feeling arising inside his chest when he realized he would have to confront him now, look into his eyes and explain everything he did…

,,And you know, I’m sure he will be furious once finds out about all the things you did, once he finds out how about little you’ve truly cared about him, that you left him to die so carelessly and just a few days later you made out with the fairy who took his life, meanwhile he was still unconscious and struggling to survive, once he finds out how little you’ve always cared for this entire family, that you’ve made Anagan leave because he simply couldn’t deal with your ego and twisted priorities anymore!”

After hearing those words Ogron felt as if all of those intense, swirling emotions inside him got completely out of his control all of a sudden, as if the thought of his little brother truly hating and despising him for what he did from now on triggered something inside him and completely shattered the fragile attempt of self-control, that he tried so hard to keep up until this moment.

He grabbed his brothers shoulders and violently shoved him into the wall without thinking, letting his raging anger take control over him as he looked him dead in the eye and whispered his next words in the meaning voice of a quiet, deadly serious threat intertwining with the trembling, intense rage.

,,It’s not my fault Anagan is gone! If I recall correctly, _you_ were the one who kept insisting we must let him make his decision and respect his choice!”

,,And what else would you want to do?” the blond wizard spat scornfully, ,,drag him back against his will? That’s exactly your problem, you can’t think about anybody else that yourself! If Anagan made such a serious decision it must mean he had thought it through. And honestly, I’m not even surprised that he wants to have nothing in common with a man like you anymore… I can’t help but wonder what will Duman think once he finds out how you’ve finally shoved your true colors!”

,,You won’t utter a word about what happened, do you understand?! Duman won’t get to know anything about this!”

,,Are you really such a coward you won’t even tell him whose fault is it he almost died?” Gantlos asked quietly, his demeanor composed enough again not to react with any unnecessary resistance that could only ignite more conflict.

,,I will tell him about that. But when it comes to what you saw in my room, you won’t speak about it. Ever. Do you understand?”

,,Or what? You may be our leader, Ogron, but that doesn’t mean we have the duty to obey your every shameless wish. That doesn’t mean you have the right make us go against our conscience. You are our leader not because you named yourself one, but because we _chose_ to accept you as one, and that is what you apparently haven’t been able to understand throughout all those centuries. You can’t demand anybody’s respect, just as you can’t force them the give you their loyalty. And being a leader means having responsibilities, more than the rest of us, so if that’s truly what you still want to be, it means that you have to _prove_ to us you’re still worthy of our respect. Because nobody’s loyalty is given for free. And it can be lost. Even after all those centuries we’ve spent together. So that’s just a few little things you should probably think about…” 

As he said those words, this time in a calm, steady voice and without any traces of his former anger or even any kind of resentment, Ogron couldn’t help but felt the impact they were supposed to have. Perhaps Gantlos was right… his actions truly didn’t prove the fact he was worthy of being their leader, he betrayed them all in more than just one way and he wasn’t even able to admit his fault… and yet his brother was still there, he still didn’t decide to leave, he was still giving him a chance to make all of this right, maybe he was even still willing to forgive... yes, his pride still kept screaming at him not to admit his mistakes, but what kind of a fool would he be to refuse this chance that was apparently given to him despite all he’s done?

,,You’re right,” the red-haired wizard said quietly as he let go of his brother’s shoulders and took a step back, ,,I’ve messed up. I admit it. I admit it because this family is all I have and I can’t afford to lose any more of you than I already did. And if you really want to tell Duman everything then go ahead, you have every right to do so. If you want to punish me for what I did, this is the perfect way to do it. However before you do, there is something you should think about too. Do you want this family to fall apart even more than it already has…?”

After living for long centuries a man gets to know himself well enough to know his strongest weapons. And Ogron knew exactly what his ultimate forte was, just as he knew how to use it in every situation. If somebody knew the skill of manipulation, it was him.

And did he feel bad for using his brother’s soft spot, the soft spot that he had for his family, the soft spot that could be taken advantage of so easily? Should he have regrets from trying to achieve his own goals by making the blond wizard keep the secret he never wanted to be revealed in front of their youngest brother? Well, his moral compass was already buried under the weight of much worse sins and crimes, so what was one more small manipulation compared to the entire sea of blood, lies, betrayals and taken lives? 

,,Alright,” Gantlos sighed after a while, ,,you’re right, it’s not worth it. I shouldn’t be breaking even more what is already broken. So even though I don’t understand how can you of all people feel that way about a fairy, I’m willing to forget I’ve ever seen anything. But only if you promise me one thing. You won’t ever kiss that fairy again. Not to even mention you won’t ever think about sleeping with her,” he added, unable to hide the disgust in his voice.

,,That promise might be harder to fulfill than you think, brother” Ogron said in a half-joking way as a small grin spread across his lips, satisfied with the immediate result of that easy little manipulation, ,,she makes my body feel in a way it hasn’t in a long time… and I can’t say I don’t like that feeling.”

,,I don’t care what your body craves, brother, have some self-control! She is a fairy, for goodness sake! If you long for somebody to satisfy your lust, grab yourself the first woman you see on the street for all I care, just as long as she’s not a fairy,” the blond wizard growled in an annoyed, slightly sarcastic way, not trying to hide his contemptuous displeasure and scornful disbelief when it came to finding out the inexplicable desires of his brother. How was it possible that Ogron, of all people, suddenly decided to change the nature of his passion from hatred to lust? 

,,Don’t worry,” Ogron said as he placed his hand of his brother’s shoulder and looked him in the eyes, while carefully making sure everything about his body language suggested that fact that his following words were going to be nothing else than the truth, ,,I promise. You have my word.”

However in reality they were nothing else than a lie. His eyes were filled with so much false honesty that they easily managed to fool the man who knew him for centuries. He had no doubts about that. The subtle art of lying was a talent he was somehow born with, and during all those centuries he learned to mastered it so perfectly that not even his brothers were able to tell when is words weren’t true. And even though he didn’t lie often to them, from time to time he decided it was best to keep some things a secret… his intentions when it came to the young pink-haired fairy were one of those things.

How could he not finish what he started? It was just as Gantlos said, he either took everything or nothing. And the idea of her beautiful, tantalizing body, belonging to him at least for one short sleepless night, that tempting, unforgettable image in his mind, _that_ made him convinced this was one of those times he would take everything, and he would take it no matter what it takes…

,,You should go and have a look at Duman. I told him he needs to get some rest but he didn’t want to hear a word about it, so I at least managed to convince him stay in bed until you come,” Gantlos said after a while, convinced by his brother’s words, the words of a promise that seemed undeniably honest and truthful enough to calm all his previous worries.

,,Does he know… does he know anything about what happened a week ago?” Ogron asked, the slight tremble in his quiet voice suddenly revealing all his worry.

,,I don’t know… he didn’t want to tell me anything, he just kept insisting on talking to you in private, and as fast as possible.”

,,I’m not sure if that’s a good sign…”

,,Well… I just hope he’ll forgive you after you tell him what you’ve done. Try to do whatever it takes to make things right with him. If this family falls apart more than it already has… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

His words were quiet and serious and his face expression as grave as if deep inside he knew that having much hope when it came to the shapeshifter’s forgiveness would be an irrational foolishness that would only eventually result in him having his heart broken even more. He still wanted to have hope. He truly wanted to believe that they could be a family again… however after everything that happened that would require a lot of effort to forgive and forget. And such a selfless effort was certainly far from being a strong quality of Duman’s personality.

,,I will,” Ogron said as he placed his hand on the blond wizard’s shoulder once again and squeezed it lightly in a gesture of a calming reassurance and this time truly honest promise.

He turned around and started walking away slowly, leaving his brother behind with the same worries and doubts that now relentlessly tormented his own mind as well. He didn’t want to do this, he dreaded the moment when he would have to look into the golden eyes of his youngest brother and tell him about his mistakes, the mistakes that almost cost him his life… however the conversation was inevitable anyway, so the sooner would the truth be revealed, the better.

The door to Duman’s room was open and as the red-haired wizard slowly reached it, he planned to stop for a while, intending to take a little time to muster up the courage and only after that take that one step and walk inside. However, the luxury of those few seconds that he needed for himself so badly was not granted to him, since the shapeshifter who sat on his bed with and impatient expression, still looking quite pale and weakly unhealthy, turned his head immediately after his animal senses registered the smallest indication of his brother’s presence. 

He tried to get up as fast as possible, however the sudden, sharp pain coming from the still not completely healed wound made him gasp from pain loudly. He pressed one hand to his chest to the place where the uncomfortable sensation came from, while he involuntarily tumbled backwards and ended up sitting on his bed once again. 

Ogron’s first instinctive reaction after witnessing his the sight of his pain was to rush towards him as fast as possible, without thinking about anything. And even though it was apparent that his brother had been better, he couldn’t hold back the sudden wave of happiness and relief that washed over him in the moment he saw him being alive and well once again…

,,You shouldn’t make such quick movements,” he said in a voice so soft that it left even him quite surprised.

He reached him in a second, placing a hand on his shoulder and squatting down to meet his eye level. 

,,Your wound is still not completely healed… you should rest for a while until it gets better…” 

,,You’re telling me to rest?” Duman asked with an unexpectedly sharp snap as he pushed his brother's hand away harshly, his golden eyes with flaming anger burning violently behind them meeting the icy blue ones of his brother, ,,just a few days ago I was more than _too_ close to getting more rest than I ever needed, and that was all because of you, you son of a bitch… so how about you stopped pretending to be a caring, good big brother and better explained what you’ve done?!”

Duman had no intention of holding his anger back. He knew what happened… he saw it all. 

After Ariadne breathed life into his dying body once again and left him so abruptly without any proper explanation, he was desperate to get some answers, answers to his questions about how did she survive, about what her intentions were now after living in hiding for long centuries, about the revenge she definitely craved more than anything… and perhaps he even hoped to get an answer to the question that his pride just as his fear would never allow him to ask, the question if her feelings for him truly never changed, if their promise could be reborn despite everything that happened, if the union of their passionate, almost forgotten love could truly rise from the ashes of his betrayal… 

He never got those answers. However he got a different one. An answer to the question he never asked. An answer to the question he had no idea he _needed_ to ask in the first place. An answer to the question whether his life mattered at all to the only person he ever admired and loved without any boundaries. 

Because she showed him everything. And seeing each moment, each detail of the events that happened after he got mortally wounded by the mysterious magic of the last fairy on Earth, was pure torment. The cold carelessness in his brother’s eyes when he refused to listen to the other two wizards begging him to let revenge be and save his life, the determination to rather have the fairy’s blood on his hands than to try to help him, the moment when he decided his violent desire for vengeance would become more important than his brother’s life… he refused to believe that what she had shown him was the truth. 

But deep inside he knew. The instincts of an animal are never wrong. And this fact left him so shaken that from that moment his soul ceaselessly cried bitter, angry tears even when his eyes couldn’t, his soul was shedding those tiny drops of sheer pain during those entire days, while his body was still recovering in that strange, inexplicable coma, in which only his mind was awake, awake in the darkness of his doubts and questions.

,,I… I have no excuse,” Ogron said after a while, his voice a quiet whisper filled with so much undeniably honest regret that it left the shapeshifter taken aback for a while, realizing he apparently wasn’t the only one in emotional pain, ,,what I did back there was the worst, most despicable mistake of my life. I admit it. I admit everything.”

,,Oh, how lovely,” Duman said with a sarcastic scoff, letting the anger win over the small spark of compassion that he felt for a while after seeing the undoubtedly sincere remorse behind the red-haired wizards eyes, ,,did you really apologize? You? Oh, please, brother, I don’t deserve that… don’t let my little, insignificant life get in the way of your flawless act of that cold pride that you’ve been perfecting for centuries… that’s always been the most important thing in your life, hasn’t it?” he asked mockingly.

,,I know that’s no excuse… but please, just know that I was far from thinking straight in that moment,” Ogron sighed, his regrets and remorse getting worse and worse each second, as if each word the shapeshifter let out of his mouth was a thorn that punished him by sinking deeply into his chest, ,,I thought that’s what you’d want me to do… I thought you’d want me to choose revenge over anything. Even over your life. That you’d want her to die with you. That you wouldn’t mind dying if she went up in the same flames as you. I know how twisted it sounds now and I know I shouldn’t have thought like that… but still, despite everything I know you well enough, brother. Can you look me in the eyes and say a part of you wouldn’t wish I killed her on the spot no matter what it took?”

,,Oh, here we are again,” Duman chuckled sarcastically, ,,denying your mistakes once again, using that special gift of yours to talk so cleverly you get rid of all your responsibility, making yourself look like the flawless one while convincing others your failure is their fault. You really _are_ a coward…”

,,I’m not denying any of my mistakes!” the red haired wizard raised his voice, feeling the fire of his hot temper spreading inside his veins once again as he stood up abruptly and started pacing around the room nervously, ,,but can you honestly tell me that a part of you wouldn’t wish for her blood to be on my hands, that you wouldn’t want an immediate revenge after what she’s done to you?”

,,Are you really asking me if I’d choose vengeance over my own death?!” the shapeshifter shouted furiously, ,,are you serious? Do you have _any idea_ what it feel like to be dying?! Do you have any idea what kind of a horrifying fear takes over your mind, what kind of a humiliating remorse and pathetic regret you start feeling, all those things making you wish you could relive you life and make some entirely different choices? Do you have any idea what kind of a torture that is?! I might be a crazy, cruel monster, however not even my desire for that fairy's blood could make me wish to go through all that!”

,,You’re right…,” Ogron sighed, calming his voice and reminding himself that in this situation he truly wasn’t the one who had he right to feel and act outraged, ,,you have every right to hate me, brother. I won’t try to take that from you. Actually, I know and I admit that’s exactly what I deserve. So if you want to hate me, go ahead, I won’t try to stop you. I will even give you one more reason to do so. I suppose that Gantlos didn’t tell you yet… but Anagan is gone. He left us for good, running away to who know where and it’s all my fault… and believe me that no words can describe how much his decision hurts me. And I realize that now after I’ve told you this you’re going to hate me even more… but trust me that fate has already punished me enough by taking one of my brothers away from me…”

He couldn’t prevent his voice from shaking when the last words escaped his lips just as he couldn’t prevent a single tear from rolling down his face, a single tear that was soon followed by more of them, that revealed just how weak and helpless he truly felt, how bare and vulnerable his soul was despite all the attempts to hide it, how he decided to care no more about his stubborn pride, how he was willing to throw it away for that one short while just to prove to his brother that his words were sincere and honest…

,,Oh, how touching is it that you cry for our dear brother,” Duman scoffed sarcastically, ,,you said he left? Well, then that means he’s probably still alive, right? And yet here you are, shedding all those tears for him, while I wasn’t even worth a single one in the moments when I was dying, I apparently wasn’t even worth your presence or your effort to do anything about it…”

,,I… I just told you that Anagan left us, I just told you he probably won’t ever come back. And you’re so… calm? You’re so at peace with it?” Ogron asked, his voice filled with honest shock caused by his brother’s inexplicably nonchalant reaction. 

He didn’t expect that. What he expected was even more rage, what he expected was a violent storm of hatred, maybe he even expected getting attacked by some dark spell emerging from his brother’s anger, and there was even a small part of him that feared that after finding out about Anagan’s choice, his youngest brother would decide the same way, would decide he wouldn't follow and respect him as his leader and brother anymore… 

,,Oh, please, don’t act so surprised,” Duman rolled his eyes mockingly, ,,you knew what I always thought about him. And you decided to ignore my opinion for centuries. Did that ignorance cloud your mind so much it actually made you believe that I’ve started seeing him as a brother? He could have left years ago, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. For all I care, he can kill himself while whining about having a broken heart from you betraying his pathetic trust…”

,,How can you say something like that?! He’s your brother! He’s your family just like the rest of us!” Ogron shouted, his fragile attempt of self-control now officially going up in flames.

He knew Duman used to detest Anagan with all passion when he joined their hunt for fairies and their quest for revenge many centuries ago, he knew Duman used to make it very clear he didn’t consider Anagan worthy of being one of them, he knew about their differences and contrasting opinions on some matters, however he had no idea that the shapeshifter’s hatred was still so stubborn and unbending even after all those centuries that the two of them spent fighting side by side, saving each other’s lives countless times during the bloodthirsty battles, and making the rest of them believe they decided to bury their differences for good a long time ago. 

,,He’s _not_ my family! He never was! I don’t give a shit about that fucking manwhore, I never did!”

,,Watch your mouth!” Ogron shouted furiously, ,,he’s been your brother for centuries! He fought by your side, he always had your back, he even saved your life so many times and put himself in foolish, irresponsible danger while doing so, and you know that didn’t only happen once! He cared for you! And I will _not_ tolerate you disrespecting him like that!”

Something about his brother’s words made an intangible, evanescent thought of regret cross Duman’s mind, making him feel like perhaps what he said truly was too harsh, too heartless… and together with that thought came one another, making its way into his head inconspicuously and quietly, making a sharp thorn of inexplicable, excruciating grief sink deep inside his chest, cutting right through his heart. 

Anagan was gone… and deep inside he knew it wasn’t just Ogron’s fault. It wasn’t even _mainly_ Ogron’s fault. The words he said to his brother just a few days ago… he knew he has hurt him. A lot. But that was his intention, wasn’t it? He wanted to make him feel miserable and worthless, he wanted to make him question his place in this family, to make him start doubting what he had always believed in, he wanted all of this, secretly wishing for this exact scenario to happen… so why did it all feel so terribly wrong all of a sudden…? Why did he feel so… hurt?

,,The days of you telling me what I can and can't do are over, Ogron,” he said in a quiet, threatening voice, deciding to leave his confusing feelings behind, to lock them away in the darkest place somewhere in the back of his mind, deciding he would deal with them later and choosing to channel the frustration of his overwhelming emotion to his leader, ,,after you’ve done you have no right do demand anything from me anymore… you have no right to demand my respect. Because tell me honestly, do I still have a reason to respect you? Actually now that I think about it… did I ever have a reason to care about you so much, to care about your opinion, your approval, did I really have a reason for all those years to obey everything you said almost without a question, to do anything you asked me to… and for what? Just to see you were satisfied with me? To gain your approval? And why, for goodness’s sake? What were you giving me in return? I remember the day you found me and saved my life… and even though I will forever be indebted to you for that, now I see how that single act was enough to cloud my judgment so much for all those years…”

,,What are you even talking about…? Duman, I know I messed up, but you seriously need to calm down, it’s meaningless to…”

,,Just let me finish, brother!” the pink-haired wizard snapped at him harshly, ,,what I wanted to say is that you never cared for me! You never cared, damn it! But I refused to see it… I remember the days when I was just a scared, helpless, vulnerable child, desperately looking for some comfort, some affection, for something at least a little similar to the warmth of familiar love, but you never gave any of that to me even though you realized how much I craved and needed it! All you did was always demanding I did my best, always demanding perfection from me, always demanding I was better, stronger, more powerful, and I tried to, I tried to do _everything_ to make you satisfied, to make you proud, to hear at least a single word of praise from you… but I was never good enough! Do you have any idea how that felt?! Do you have any idea how frustrated, angry and broken you made me feel right from the beginning when I was just a child?! And guess what, that’s not what I needed! That’s not something _any_ child needs! You were the only father I ever had, for goodness sake! Couldn’t you have realized it?!”

Ogron knew that his brother felt hurt and betrayed, however he wouldn’t expect to hear anything even close to the words of furious frustration that left Duman’s mouth now, because they were so far from being like all the other the angry outbursts he ever witnessed from him before. 

This time his words weren’t just angry. The anger was just a way to deal with all the tormenting pain that was hiding behind them. Or perhaps it wasn’t even hiding anymore. The tears on his face that rolled down his cheeks seemed like they weren’t restrained by anything anymore. Like he simply didn’t care, even though he was quite apparently showing weakness, which was something he would never allow himself to do before. But something inside him broke. Something that was bent for centuries and finally snapped after all those years of hiding the unspoken suffering.

And in that moment Ogron felt like something inside him broke in the exactly same way. Because he knew what Duman was talking about. He knew exactly how a pain like that felt. He knew because experienced it.

,,I…I always knew I was hard on you during all those years,” he said quietly, barely restraining his tears, ,,and I know that this doesn’t excuse it… but I was telling myself every single day it was the best thing I could do for you. That demanding you always did your best, pushing you to your limits in everything and not showing you much kindness and affection would only make you stronger. But I had no idea I hurt you this much… that was never my intention. And only now that I said this all out loud I realize what a terrible hypocrite I was during all those years, putting you through everything I experienced myself, what I hated so much, while telling myself I was doing you a favor…,” his voice trembled a little and he took a deep breath before saying the words he would never have thought would escape his lips some day.

,,… I guess I’m not really that different from my father.”

,,I’m glad you finally see it,” Duman said in a quiet, sardonic voice, ,,but then at the end of the day… what can you expect from a man who grew up in such a fucked up family…? Don’t think I’m trying to forgive you or justify how you treated me for all those years… I’m just thinking out loud,” he added quickly.

,,I’m not. I know very well how you feel… what I’ve done is not something that could be forgiven so easily. I realize it. Still, you’re right about what you said about my family,” he scoffed, even though he was unable to understand why was he even talking about this topic that he never used discuss before, not even with his brothers, ,,growing up as a son of a man who had literally _everything_ was a lot harder than it might sound…”

Why was he talking about it? He didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to remember. The past was simply too much to think about…

,,Anyway, speaking about my family… Gantlos told me something that I’m still not quite able to believe. Perhaps you would be able to explain…,” he said quickly to change the topic.

,,What is it?” Duman asked, putting all his effort into making sure his voice sounded completely indifferent and emotionless, pretending that what his brother asked was just a casual question… however inside his chest a storm of so many intense emotions emerged all of a sudden and made his heart beat so hard that he felt as if it was going to jump out of his chest any second.

,,He said that before your condition improved, which still neither of us is able to understand at all, he saw someone entering the room… he said he saw my sister.” 

,,What…? Ariadne?” the shapeshifter asked, putting all of his effort into making his pretense sound like a truly sincere shock, ,,… that’s not possible. She’s dead.”

,,That’s what I though until now. I had no doubts about it for centuries, I thought I buried her together with my past a long time ago. And I realize how stupid and foolish this sounds, but I have to tell you… I just can’t get rid of the feeling that the past can really come back to you when you least expect it…”

,,That’s nonsense, Ogron,” Duman scoffed, trying to sound as natural and confident as possible which turned out to be a lot harder than he first thought, ,,there is literally no way how she could still be alive and you know that. We both know it. We were both there when I took her life…”

So far he managed to hide his true feelings… but for how long could he pretend to be so calm and indifferent when even the slightest mention of the woman, who always has been and will always be one and only love of his life, made him feel so many things all of a sudden, turned his thoughts into a ceaseless, turbulent riot of countless contradicting emotions in his head while tormenting his body with those painfully intense long-forgotten desires?

And how could he let such blatant, shameless lies escape his lips when her touch was still there, still lingering on his skin and clouding his mind with so much uncontrollable lust, not only lust for her body, but also for her voice, for her scent, for the feeling of her silky hair underneath his fingers, for that strangely vulnerable look behind her eyes that he saw behind them every single time they made love, that look by which she’d always let him see so deeply inside her soul, that lust for simply her every single part of her, which came back to him like a violent, destructive wave after all those centuries he had to spend without her?

,,I know there is no rational explanation for the way I feel about this… but those unsettling thoughts simply won’t leave me,” Ogron sighed, running his fingers though his blood-red hair in an subconscious anxious gesture before starting to pace around the room nervously, ,,and what’s even stranger is that after Gantlos woke up from that strange unconscious state he was in, which I can’t explain either, he found you with your wounds completely healed and without any struggle to survive anymore… I have so many questions and no answers. So I need you to tell me, and tell me completely honestly… do you know something about all of this? Any clues that could make me understand what happened…?”

,,Of course not! Are you even listening to yourself brother? Not a single thing you suggest here makes any sense!” Duman scoffed mockingly while realizing he needed to find a way to change the topic, and he needed to do it as fast as possible.

,,Anyway… what happened to that little bitch who tried to kill me? I really hope you made her pay. I hope she suffered, I hope you made her scream in agony… I hope you made sure she died defenseless and humiliated, I hope you tortured her to insanity so mercilessly that she at the end begged you to take that miserable life of hers… I really hope that’s what you did, since that’s the least you owed me after leaving me to die to get that revenge. So all I want to hear is that you at least turned it into a revenge to be remembered,” he added in a half-sarcastic, half-serious tone, quickly finding the perfect way to end the discussion about the woman who saved his life, asking about something that he was more than eager to hear about anyway.

,,I _did_ try to kill her… and she would have died if there wasn’t for a… little change of plan,” Ogron said carefully, completely aware of the fact that this was far from the answer his brother wanted to hear.

,,What do you mean a change of plan?! Do you want to tell me she’s not dead?!”

,,No… she’s not. Listen, Duman, you have to let me explain…”

,,I don’t want to hear any explanations!” the shapeshifter shouted furiously, loosing all of his fragile self-control, this time feeling like he was loosing it for good, ,, I’m done with you at this point, do you hear me?! I’m done with you! I can’t believe you did this! I can’t believe you didn’t even take that damned revenge, not after you’ve decided it was more important than my life!”

,,I understand that you’re angry, but you really should listen to what I have to say,” Ogron sighed, deciding that trying to reason with his brother would be wiser than to fight his anger with the same outrage, ,,there is a good reason why I decided to keep her alive. Do you remember how the magic that she attacked you with felt like? When we first captured her, she hit me with the exactly same spell as well. And ever since then I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of a mysterious power it is that she possesses, and why does she have it in the first place… I knew it was something formidably strong from the moment when she attacked me and I wasn’t able to absorb the spell and turn it into my power, but when her spell hit you I also realized it can be dangerous, deadly and uncontrollable… it’s no fairy magic, Duman. I have no doubts about that.”

,,So you want to tell me that she might have some different, much stronger power inside her?” the pink-haired wizard asked in a calmer voice, since what his brother said truly got him interested in spite of all the feelings of betrayal and anger, ,,and that’s why you didn’t kill her? Of course…you want to find out more about it… you want to make it yours.”

,,You know me well, brother,” Ogron smirked slightly, ,,first I wanted to save her because I thought I could use her power to heal you somehow… but it turns out it wasn’t necessary. I could have killed her after that, for sure… but I think we’ll make much more use of her if we keep her alive for a while until we figure out how to take that powerful magic of hers… this is not an opportunity we should allow to slip through our fingers. And after that… she’s all yours for all I care. Torture her to death, if that’s what you wish,” he added in an indifferent tone, hoping this suggestion would finally appease his brother who still had every single right to be mad at him.

The fact was that he truly didn’t care for the young fairy back in his room. If allowing his brother to torture her in the most terrible ways was what it took to make him forget and forgive what he’s done to him, then no amount of pain and screams of the girl he kissed so passionately just a while ago could make him care enough to even bat an eyelash. All he wanted was to make sure her body would stay unharmed and her skin soft and smooth, but only until the moment when he would finally make her his, when he would finally fulfill the excruciating desires she has awoken inside him, after that, however, he couldn’t care less about what would happen to her. She was nothing to him.

,,Smart plan, brother…but do you really think you can make me forgive you so easily?” Duman scoffed mockingly, the anger and bitterness returning to his voice once again, ,,she’s mine not because you said so, but because I’m the only one who has the right to end her after what she’s done to me. I would kill her even if you told me not to. It looks like you still haven’t understood how much you’ve messed up. You left me to die, for goodness sake, and you expect all will be forgiven if you let me vent my rage by killing one fairy?!”

He stood up from his bed, ignoring the pain and took a few steps towards the red-haired wizard until they stood just a feet apart, his golden eyes filled with so many barely restrained raging emotions that Ogron wasn’t even sure whether he wanted to hear his next words… he feared what they might turn out to be.

,,But as I said… what can you expect from a man who grew up in such fucked-up family… of course you have no idea what being somebody’s family means. How could I expect you to be a good brother… when you didn’t even bat an eyelash while killing your sister?”

,,That bitch deserved nothing else.”

,,That’s true… Ariadne was just was much of a villain as you. But I can give a different example, if you really want me to…”

,,Duman…”

,,…I’m sure you remember the day when you took Bianca’s life… I’m sure you remember how it felt…”

His voice was quiet and the glow behind his eyes the one of a cruel, merciless satisfaction, the satisfaction he enjoyed after saying the words that he knew were going to hurt his brother’s most painful sore spot more than anything else… but for what he’s done, he deserved to feel that pain.

,,Duman… I’m warning you once. I’m not going to do it again, ,, the red-haired wizard whispered, his voice trembling and his fists already clenched tightly, ,,don’t you dare… don’t you dare to mention her once again…”

,,Oh, that poor girl… when I think about it, I’m really feeling so sorry for her,” the shapeshifter said with a cruel smirk playing on his lips, ignoring his brother’s words completely, ,,how young and innocent she was… the only mistake she’s ever made was that she trusted you…”

,,That’s enough!” Ogron shouted as he grabbed his brother’s shoulders and violently shoved him into the wall, putting all his effort into restraining himself enough not to attack him with magic, since a little, quiet voice in the back of his mind was telling him he’d soon regret such reckless decision made in the state of raw, uncontrollable anger, however the temptation to do just that was so intense all of a sudden…

,,It hurts to hear that doesn’t it?” Duman scoffed sardonically, ,,her death is your biggest regret, it has always been for centuries and it will always be… which only makes me wonder how is it possible that you haven’t learned from your mistakes. Or would my death be so much less significant that hers that it wouldn’t even leave you with regrets you’d remember for the rest of your life…?”

Ogron felt like the shock his brother’s words left him in made him unable to answer, to speak, to think… he couldn’t believe Duman would ever truly say the words he did. His family was a topic that was never to be discussed or even mentioned. However when it came to Bianca… that unspoken rule applied even more. And Duman knew. He knew it very well. He said this because he _wanted_ to hurt him, he truly wanted it…

However a few seconds later he realized he didn’t even have to bother with finding the words to answer his brother’s question… because in that moment he became aware of the strong magical trace, the familiar signature which he began feeling while still holding the shapeshifter's shoulders… he knew the trace of whose magic it was.

,,You lied to me….”

,,What are you talking about?” Duman asked in a half-confused, half-mocking tone.

,,You said you have no idea what Gantlos was talking about, you said she wasn’t there, you said she didn’t help, that you didn’t see her… but then why do I feel her magic, so alive and intense, everywhere inside your body…? You have some explaining to do, brother…,” he said in a quiet, menacing voice.

Duman cursed himself for not being more careful, for not thinking about what kind of consequences his actions might have. Ogron knew… and the panic that started quickly arising inside his chest made him completely unable to think, to come up with some convincing words to make his brother believe in the pretense that he had to keep intact at all costs…

,,Are you truly questioning my loyalty… brother?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Sooo I realize that this chapter took terribly long to update, yes, it was more than a week and I'm really sorry, however I have some bad news... this school I've started is really keeping me so freaking busy, I kinda didn't expect it do be so bad thb, so even though I'm absolutely determined to write this story every single day, which I also do, I still think I won't even be to update as often as once a week, which was the initial plan...
> 
> I'll try to post a few updates a month, I hope that's fine, since I think I won't manage more since maaaan, med school is no joke, unfortunately :( During the last week I really felt like I wished that a day would have 48 hours so that I could have more time to write this fanfic, unfortunately though a day doesn't work that way, so I'll just have to find a way to survive that school while still trying to post my story... I won't give up on it though, no matter how busy I'll be, so don't worry, I'll keep updating as fast as i can :) 
> 
> (Sorry for the rant, lol :D)
> 
> Anyway, please keep letting me know what you think about my story, it really inspires me sooo much and keeps me motivated, so to everyone who wrote me a comment or gave me a Kudos, thank you so much, your support is amazing, I love you all♥


	21. Dangerous Games

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter mentions nonconsensual sexual contact, so this is just a warning in case you're not comfortable with reading such content.
> 
> Also, to anyone who maybe hasn't noticed the note at the beginning of the first chapter of this story, or to anyone who has forgotten, this is just a reminder that in my story Roxy is not sixteen but eighteen since... well sixteen would hardly be appropriate considering some more mature content that my story is going to involve. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, feel free to let me know in the comments what you think about it :D

For the first few minutes Roxy truly wasn’t able to move a muscle, just as Ogron demanded it from her before he left, she just stood there in shock and tried to take a few deep breaths to calm down and steady her nerves as fast as possible. 

It took a little time but after a few moments she realized that her breath wasn’t so shaky anymore, that her heartbeat slowed down a bit and that the uncomfortable sensation of the initial panic inside her chest started fading away gradually, getting more bearable minute after minute.

She slowly started realizing that the only thing she was able to feel now, after the shocked fear left her almost completely, was the still lingering touch of his fingertips on her skin, of his lips leaving subtle traces of sweetly dark memories on hers, of his arms pressing her delicate body against his strong, muscular one with such fiery, intense possessiveness, as if he wanted to make all of her belong to him from that moment until forever, as if he wanted to make sure she was only and only his, the angry passion of his lips letting her know that he would make sure it would end that way sooner or later, and that he would make sure of it by something much less innocent and much more intimate than just a single kiss… 

,,Dear God… what have I gotten myself into?” she whispered quietly as she finally became fully aware of the consequences that her actions might have now, leaning against the wall behind her and slowly letting her back slide down until she ended up sitting on the ground.

Because even if her body felt like it was still burning with so much passion that it definitely wasn’t far from plain, animalistic, physical lust, her mind, her heart and her conscience were tormenting her with that one undeniable, inarguable fact… that this was wrong. This was all so wrong, so twisted…

 _,,How long am I going to do this? How long am I going to continue playing with fire like this? Until I get burned and it’s already too late?”_ she asked herself desperately, her fingers digging into her hair subconsciously as she lowered her head to hide her face inside her palms, to close her eyes to the reality at least for a short while…

She realized how dangerous was the situation she was in right now. She was kidnapped again, who knows for what exact reason this time, and if that wasn’t a fact bad enough itself, she also managed to make her worst enemy crave her body with such wild lust that didn’t seemed to be held back by anything, that made it so clear what his next intentions with her were…

She felt the panic arising inside her chest once again as the images of how this all might end started appearing in her mind, so vivid and realistic as if she already had such an intimate experience with somebody and knew what to expect, which she of course didn’t, but nevertheless she saw it all in front of her eyes, she almost felt his body on the top of hers, she felt his lips on her skin, she felt her own vulnerable helplessness as she imagined him taking her innocence away once and for all…

No, that’s enough. She quickly banished all those images from her mind, not only because they were so disturbing and made her feel so terribly scared from what might come next, but maybe also because something about them felt so… so inexplicably tempting…

 _,,No! Enough, right now! How on Earth can I think like that? How on Earth can I think like… like I’m nothing but a shameless, little whore? Haven’t I gotten myself into enough trouble already?”_ she scolded herself harshly, quickly burying the sinful thoughts and banishing them from her mind for good.

But realistically… was there any reason why shouldn’t he do what he quite apparently wanted to? What could possibly hold him back from taking away her innocence, so carelessly and mercilessly, when all he would gain from that act would be nothing else than pure pleasure and satisfaction? His conscience? Hardly, he had none. His brothers? He seemed determined enough, he probably wouldn’t let anyone talk him out of his intentions…

And how would she ever look at herself in the mirror again if she knew that her body was forever be marked by his indelible touch, by his hot skin and by the involuntary, forced union with the man she should despise and hate more than anyone else? 

How could she ever look into the eyes of her friends and her father and letting them live in the lie that the only thing she and the red-haired wizards ever shared was hatred and contempt? And what would they say if they saw how she kissed him? What would they think if they could see inside her head and found out about her deepest, darkest desires that she kept hidden even from herself…?

,,Enough of that!” she told herself sternly, saying the words out loud prevent herself from thinking about something that her mind always seemed to return to, even in spite of all the disgust, fear and anger that she felt when imagining it…

She stood up from the ground abruptly, realizing that she desperately needed to find something that would keep her mind distracted, because if she didn’t, she would probably go crazy from all those contradicting, confusing emotions and desires inside her head. 

She took a few steps until she reached the shelf with the impressively huge collection of books once again, hoping she could find one that would catch her attention enough to help her forget what was so wrong to think about, that could help her calm that incessant, turbulent riot inside her head…

However a while later she just found herself mindlessly staring at the titles of the books inscribed on their covers, unable to focus on that incoherent mix of letters at all, just vaguely realizing that most of the titles were written in languages she didn’t even know the names of… this was pointless.

However just as she wanted to turn around and walk away form the bookshelf, disgusted with herself and disappointed from herself so much, her eyes suddenly fell on one book that seemed to be so different from all the others around it. It’s black cover must have had some letters written on it some time ago, however they were all gone by now, and the only reminder of the title were the traces of the somehow still vivid gold color, however those traces were so small and scarce that nothing legible could ever be formed from them. The book seemed undeniably old, so old that when she lightly caressed its cover with her fingertips, she made that movement with a certain amount of respect and admiration, while inside her head she tried to guess how many years could that volume have, was it decades, or maybe even centuries…? 

She realized that trying to move such old objects, especially books, might not be the safest thing to do considering how fragile they could be, but she couldn’t help herself… she closed her fingers around the dark cover and pulled the book outside, slowly and carefully, realizing that the consequences if she damaged it probably wouldn’t be nice… after all, Ogron told her to wait for him without doing anything at all, so if he found out she didn’t just disobey him but also damaged a possibly centuries old book from his library, his reaction would probably be far from pleased…

As she finally managed to pull it out carefully, she immediately realized how heavy it was, it was an impressively large book after all, so she quickly took a few steps and sat down on the comfortable double bed that she woke up in not even an entire hour ago, turning the volume in her hands around so that she could have a look at its front cover.

She was quite surprised to find out that the ornate letters written by beautiful golden ink were still completely clear and legible for some reason, as if time has taken no toll on them… and a second later she also realized how was it possible, as she suddenly became aware of the strong magical signature radiating so powerfully from the object in her hands.

Whatever that books was, it must have been something quite important for him, since he apparently decided to use his own magic to preserve what was written inside…

In the middle of the front cover was a big symbol, its ornate, complicated shape undeniably making it a look like some kind of a historical coat of arms, perhaps one belonging to an old noble family. It’s elaborate shape was outlined by a thin golden line meanwhile it’s inside was black and the middle of the emblem was decorated by two golden concentric circles.

Her eyes fell on the beautiful, ornate letters once again, reading the title and gaining the proof her assumption about the symbol on the front cover was right.

,,The Albizzi family…” she quietly whispered the translation of the Italian words inscribed on there, gently running her fingers along the fine curves of those letters, the sensation of the strong magic book that protected the book suddenly becoming even more intense somehow…

Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea after all. If he considered that book so important that he decided to cover it with a spell this powerful, maybe it would be for the best if she just didn’t stick her nose into it, it wasn’t like it was her business anyway, not to even mention he would probably be furious if he ever found out she dared to open it…

But what could be so important about one book, one that on the top of that for some inexplicable reason only seemed to be a genealogy book of some old noble family, what could be so important that the trace of his magic signature around it was so strong and so intense? What on Earth could be so significant about one ancient lineage? Or was the cover simply a lie, hiding something entirely different written inside its pages? And would she even be able to open it, if she tried to…?

All those questions without any answers started to get unbearably tormenting after a while, and she knew already that her curiosity was going to take the better of her in just a few seconds as her need to find out more about the small mystery in her hands was getting stronger and stronger…

 _,,Here we go again… meddling into something that’s none of my business and flirting with danger… why do I have to be like this this? I’m such an idiot…”_ an annoyed though crossed her mind, however not even the frustration with herself was strong enough to prevent her from opening the volume with one quick, mindless flick of her hand.

The book revealed its pages immediately, surprisingly without making her fight against any form of magical resistance that she expected to feel because of the spell around it. She was quite taken aback by that fact, however she found herself even more taken aback a second later when she realized that what those pages were hiding all the time was… 

…was truly nothing else than a family tree. She couldn’t help feeling not only surprised, but also a little disappointed, as she truly expected to find something more significant, something more unexpected, something more shocking and maybe even something dangerous, something dark and powerful… but the mystery of those pages wasn’t really a mystery at all. The cover wasn’t lying, all that was written inside by pale, almost invisible ink were some names connected to each other by thin lines decorates by small leaves, so they seemed like drawn tree branches. 

She didn’t understand at all… why go through so much trouble and put a spell, one that felt so strong on the top of that, on an object that seemed to be neither important nor powerful? There must have been something about it that she didn’t understand, that she didn’t see, she must have been missing something…

Her eyes fell once again on the letters written by black ink, the color of which seemed to have faded away so many years ago that as a result most of the names weren’t legible at all… and even the ones that were revealed nothing to her. She had never heard about those people, all she knew for sure was that the name _Albizzi_ apparently belonged to an old family of Italian aristocrats, but one didn’t have to be a genius to figure that much out.

But then an idea suddenly crossed her mind. The name, as well as the title of the book were Italian after all… could this be a clue that could reveal something about his mysterious, dark past that he refused to talk about and said he wanted to forget? Not that it was any of her business again… but once that question appeared inside her head all of a sudden, she just knew she wanted to find an answer, she needed to satisfy her curiosity so badly… 

_,,I’m really such a terrible, terrible fool… I should stay out of this,”_ she told herself as she slowly turned a few pages around, careful not to damage them in any way, looking at the names written on them with so much more interest than before.

Not that it helped much… she didn’t even know exactly what she was looking for. Just as she started feeling a little disappointed that her plan of finding out something about his alluringly mysterious past seemed like it was going to fail inevitably, her eyes suddenly fell on one name that was apparently different from all the others.

The black color of the ink was intense, unlike in the cases of all the other barely legible pale names around it, it was so deep and dark that nothing would ever suggest the fact that the name was inscribed on the page so many years ago.

 _,,Bianca degli Albizzi… who was she?”_ Roxy asked herself, her curiosity getting more and more intense by each second. There must have been a reason why her name and her name alone was preserved, undoubtedly by magic, while all the others had faded due to the passing time that has naturally taken its toll on them.

A second later she also noticed that there were two other names around it… or perhaps saying there weren’t would be more accurate. It seemed like the place on the page where they undoubtedly used to be written was also affected by some kind of a spell, this time a completely different one however, since all that was left of those names were two white, empty spaces, as if somebody desperately wanted to make sure those two people weren’t remembered by history, or at least that they weren’t remembered as a part of that family…

It was intriguing for sure and she was more than curious to find out more about the mystery that the books in her hands was undoubtedly hiding, however she realized she had no way of finding out anything like this. She didn’t have nearly enough clues.

She sighed quietly as she closed the book and stood up from the bed, taking a few steps towards the shelf filled with books to return it to its place. However just as she wanted to put it back, she suddenly noticed there was something hiding behind the empty space where the volume in her hands used to stand before she took it out. It seemed to be something like a small box… so of course that her desire to know what was hiding inside made her stretch her hand out and push it through the thin space without even thinking much about it. 

She felt how her fingers touched the smooth surface of the object hiding between the books and the back of the bookshelf, and after a short hesitation she decided to close them around the it and pull it out, all despite her inner voice of reason telling her that this was just one another thing she shouldn’t stick her nose into.

When she pulled her hand back outside completely, she finally saw clearly how the mysterious box she held looked like. It was wasn’t as small as she expected it to be after all, had a thin, oblong shape and was made of dark, almost back wood that seemed similar to ebony. However the most interesting thing that she immediately noticed about it was the lid of the box, embellished by beautiful ornate lines craved into the wood on its sides, but mainly decorated by the same symbol she saw on the front cover of the genealogy book she was looking into just a few moments ago.

And that made her immediately convinced that the risk of fining out what was hiding inside the black wooden box wasn't nearly as important as maybe, just maybe finally getting a chance to satisfy her need to discover what he was trying to keep a secret so badly…

So once again, she didn’t think much before opening it, the swift movement of hand quick enough not to let any hesitations or fears get into the way of her intentions. However once she saw what was lying inside the dark object in her hands, she couldn’t help feeling somehow disappointed once again. The only mystery the box revealed was a nothing more but a dagger, its hilt beautifully decorated by thin lines of silver and gold and one small piece of round ruby in the middle near the blade, it was pretty for sure, however there was nothing so special about it except the fact it was apparently expensive and highly valuable thanks to the precious materials that were used on it. Still, she simply expected to find something… more. 

She wanted to close the box and put it back inside, however then and idea suddenly crossed her mind, making her ask why didn’t she think about it immediately as her eyes fell on the dagger in her hands. 

_,,It is a weapon after all… yes, a small dagger isn’t much, but I’m not in a situation where I can be picky either. I should take what I can get, perhaps it will be more useful than I think… who knows what can I expect to happen here after all. I shouldn’t just rely on my magic… definitely not after what happened the last time. If I harm somebody in self-defense with a blade, I can at least control my actions enough to make sure I won’t kill them…”_

She quickly used a simple spell to make the dagger disappear, however just seemingly, since that spell would enable her to make it reappear at any time so that she could use it whenever she would need to.

However while doing so her mind was already tormented by the memories of her last actions before she ended up here, the memories that came back to her so quietly and inconspicuously, the memories that she tried to hide behind some kind of a high, firm wall she has built inside her head, a wall that was supposed to protect her from what she wanted to forget so badly while realizing that thinking her guilty conscience would ever go away was just a wishful dream…

Duman… he was gone. Just because of her. It was her fault. Her fault only. She killed a man… she was a monster, a murderer… how would she continue living with that fact? Was there any way to forget and forgive herself…? Or would she just carry on breathing and ignoring the numb emptiness inside her, like a ghost without a soul, pushing though each day of the long future ahead while knowing she would never be the innocent girl who she once used to be again?

She didn’t even realize how much she got lost in those thoughts once again until she heard a loud sound that suddenly woke her up from her torturous remorse and grief. The sound of a closing door. The sound of someone entering the room and seeing her standing there in front of the high bookshelf, with the heavy, old book still in her hands…

She instinctively turned her head to the direction where the unexpected sound came from, however she didn’t even have to, she knew already, there was only one person who could it possibly be…

And in spite of what she expected, she saw no shock or surprise behind the icy blue eyes of the red-haired wizard. They were only filled with anger and rage, the violent, raw flames burning behind them as he quickly made his way towards her and grabbed her wrist so roughly and unexpectedly that she involuntarily let out a small, terrified gasp from her lips, the book in her hands falling on the ground immediately as she lost her grip on it.

Of course it would end this way, she should have known… why wasn’t she more careful? Why didn’t she just listen to that quiet little voice inside her head telling her that she was unnecessarily taking some ridiculously foolish risks?

However he didn’t seem to care about the possibly centuries old book at all, leaving it to lie open on the ground without even shooting it a single glance. All of his attention unfortunately seemed to be focused only and only on her as he grabbed her other hand as well and forcefully shoved her back into the wall, holding both of her wrists above her head while standing so close that his strong, muscular chest was almost touching hers…

She knew she should have been terrified. And she was. However something about the way he was holding her also made her heart beat faster for a different reason… that he was so close once again, making her feel so vulnerable once again… however for some strange reason she liked that vulnerability, oh that feeling of complete helplessness in his presence was something so inexplicably pleasurable…. no, not again… what was wrong with her…?

,,You’d better have some good explanation for what I’ve seen now, little fairy… or I might lose my patience with you sooner than I intended to, and make your next moments _very_ unpleasant…,” he said in a quiet, menacing voice, his threat making shivers run down her spine, and this time not in a way she would enjoy.

,,I… I was just… what is this all about anyway?!” she suddenly snapped back at him, changing her behavior from scared to angry in a blink of an eye as an idea crossed her mind, an idea that an attack might be her best defense now, for some reason she didn’t even understand herself. It probably wasn’t either the smartest or the most rational reaction she could have chosen… however she didn’t have much time to think, so she just blindly obeyed her instincts, ,,it’s just an old book… is it really such a big deal that I’ve opened it…?”

,,How dare you?! You insolent, little bitch… you have no idea what that book is! You had no right to even touch it…how did you even break the spell protecting it?! That should be impossible… anyway, I don’t remember giving you a permission to search my room through and meddle into things that are none of your business!” he snapped at her harshly as he closed his fingers around her tiny wrists even more tightly, almost too painfully, her angry reaction naturally provoking him out even more.

So her assumption was right after all… there must have been something special about that volume that now laid on the ground by their feet, seemingly forgotten and unimportant, however that apparently wasn’t the case. But no matter how badly she wanted to find out something about the secrets it was hiding, that desire would have to wait for a while… since if she didn’t come up with a way to make him calm down quickly, she might find herself in a situation where she would have much more serious problems to worry about… actually, this was probably it already… 

She had to find a way out of this… in fact she already had one idea in her mind. Risky and dangerous, so foolishly, terribly dangerous… but so excitingly tempting, so sweetly tantalizing, burning with the dark fames of such perilous irresponsibility…

,,Well, I guess I can’t help myself… I like playing with fire,” she said quietly as she gave him a small, tempting smile and a short, seductive glance underneath her long lashes.

_,,This is a bad idea… stop it… stop it now, you fool… no… I can’t. I want it. Oh goodness, just how much I want to seduce him like this… where is this side of me even coming from…?”_

,,Of course you do…,” he whispered almost gently, leaning towards her immediately as if her words had some mysterious force hidden inside them that made it impossible for him to resist, his breath softly ticking her ear and his long hair the sensitive skin of her neck, ,,you’ve proven that countless times. And I must admit, this complete lack of care when it comes to danger… it has always fascinated me so much about you. You’re so different from all the other fairies I’ve ever met, and I’ve met a lot of them… but not a single one like you,” he said quietly as he lowered his head even more, his lips brushing slightly against her temple, making her breath turn into quick, shallow, little gasps for air.

,,You’re so alluring… you make me want to see inside that strange mind of yours so badly… but I hope you’re not so naive to think that a few seductive words would make me forget how angry you’ve made me. I’ll still make you pay, my beautiful little fairy…”

His voice was still surprisingly soft, in such contrast to his threatening words in a way she found really unsettling, however not even that could make her stop what she started and change her mind about the temptation that was already taking over her mind and her words so sweetly…

,,You don’t want to harm me…”

,,What makes you think you know better what I want then I do?”

,,If you hurt me now, you won’t ever get to see all the things that l can I give you… and I know for sure you want to see them,” she smiled and turned her gaze upwards to meet his cold eyes, that for some reason didn’t seem cold now at all… they were burning with the passionate fire he was trying to hide so badly, however completely unsuccessfully…

,,Those are some _very_ dangerous words, little fairy… I’d be more careful if I were you. Or you might end up regretting them sooner than you think,” he said as a predatory grin spread across his lips, taking one step closer towards her, so agonizingly slowly, enjoying the need behind her eyes, the unhidden, intense desire to feel his body against hers, to feel it immediately…

,,I don’t think I have much of a choice… I’m in a very dangerous situation after all.”

,,More dangerous than you think actually… but you’ll find out soon enough. My brother is _dying_ to have a little talk with you, you know… I’m sure you two have some things to discuss after what you’ve done, after you’ve almost killed him…”

,,Duman is alive?” she gasped immediately, interrupting his words abruptly, the shock mixing with disbelief in her voice so audible and so apparent like probably never before in her entire life.

And for a good reason… the relief she experienced in that moment felt almost surreal. He was alive… but that… that would mean… that she was still innocent. That the blood on her hands that she though would haunt her in her worst nightmares wasn’t there at all, that she could finally breathe freely again, without the remorse and the torturously guilty conscience driving her insane each second, that would mean she didn’t have to live as a monster for the rest of her days, that she wouldn’t have to lie about what she did, which would only make the regrets even worse, that would mean she was free from the slavery of guilt once and for all…

,,Really? He is…? Oh, thank God…,” she whispered quietly in a shaky, tremulous voice, unable to say anything more, the relief coming from that realization finally washing over her completely, making her fully aware of the fact that her tormenting worries and fears were gone once an for all.

,,Thank God?” he scoffed, sarcastic mockery and genuine disbelief intertwining in his voice, since he truly couldn’t believe the words she just said, he couldn’t imagine the reason for so much sincere relief, ,,you’re truly so sweet and innocent… but that won’t ever get you anywhere, you little fool. This is not something someone in your position should be grateful for. Do you even realize what kind of hell my brother will put you though now after what you’ve done to him…? I should probably warn you, he’s not the one to forgive, so don’t even try apologizing, you’ll only make things worse for yourself. I sure wouldn’t want to be in your skin right now… when Duman gets angry there is nothing and nobody in the entire world that can make him turn away from his wrath and need for revenge, and believe me, he does those things in a wickedly cruel, monstrous way…he’s probably the most dangerous man you’ve ever encountered and will ever encounter in your entire life,” he said with a small smirk, enjoying the apparent fear flashing behind her eyes. He knew that fear was something that made people so easily manipulable and he realized that her fear might be the way for him to get what he desired so much…

And after the words he said she suddenly realized he was actually right. On one hand her guilt was gone… but on the other, she would probably pay the price for the actions anyway, perhaps in an even more painful, agonizing way… no, she couldn’t let that happen… she was so scared all of a sudden, scared to death… there must have been a way out of this. 

,,Maybe it won’t end how you think it will… you would be surprised how persuasive I can be… _especially_ with dangerous men,” she said quietly with a little smile playing on her lips, making the seductive tone returning to her voice and the tantalizing look behind her eyes. This was dangerous and she knew it… but it was the only plan she was able to come up with, and honestly, she just somehow couldn’t resist the temptation of that risk…

,,Really?” he chuckled amusedly, quickly catching both of her wrist with one hand, while using the other one to grab her chin as he leaned towards her, making the distance between their lips so torturously small once again, ,,oh, how sweetly naive you are… try playing your tempting little games with my brother and I assure you that you’ll end up regretting it so badly less than a second later… he won’t be nearly as nice to you as I am.”

,,Maybe he will. I have confidence in my skills…”

,,A little too much, I would say. Lucky you that I’m still enjoying it… but please, if you think you’re so skilled, then feel free to show me, prove to me that those aren’t just empty words…,” he smirked as he leaned back from he once again, enjoying the immediate desperate dissatisfaction behind her eyes as he decided to make the distance between them bigger all of a sudden.

,,Will I get something in return if I try to…?

,,That depends on what you’d _want_ in return… and on whether you’ll prove to be good enough,” he said quietly, trying so hard not to focus on his desire growing stronger and stronger by each second.

,,Considering the situation I’m in I think it’s clear I could only want one thing… your protection.”

,,My protection? From my brother and what he’s intending to put you through?” he chuckled slightly, ,,smart choice, but I hope you realize you’re asking for a lot, little fairy… so it’s only fair if I ask for a lot in return,” he said with an undoubtedly suggestive smirk playing on his lips as he let go of her chin and slowly let his fingers travel down her neck, leaving traces of pleasurably burning sensation behind his touch, until those fingers gradually got dangerously low, almost touching her chest… however that’s where he stopped and went no further, leaving her mind clouded by the new experience that felt so incredibly good but was so terribly wrong at the same time…

,,So will you do that for me?” she whispered quietly.

,,Only if you do something for me first…”

,,Then tell me what you _want_ me to do…”

_,,Stop it, you idiot… just shut up, stop talking… every single word you say is getting you in more and more trouble and you know it… seduce him even further and soon there will be no going back from this. Do you truly want this to end in his bed? No, of course not… but that’s where it clearly leads to, so just shut up…”_

After her words he only barely managed to restrain himself and his torturously strong lust, but only because he told himself she would end up being his one way or another, he would have her and there was no escape from that for her. Although he wasn't sure whether his actions would truly be against her will, after all the thighs she said she really made him question if it was just her survival instinct making her talk like that, or if more than that it was her desire, the desire that was exactly the same as his… if he could only see inside her head… his intention wasn’t to hurt her, so maybe a part of him would even feel glad if what he was going to do to her wasn’t something she wouldn’t agree with, however if it was… he could live with that. He truly had no reason to care for her more than for what he wanted.

,,Then kiss me,” he commanded quietly after he composed himself enough to be able to think straight again, at least a little bit more than before…

She knew she shouldn’t… she would be a fool if she did it. 

_,,Kiss him now and you know how it will end. Don’t you dare to do it… you’ll regret it for the rest of your life…”_

However it was already too late. The next thing she realized were her lips pressed against his, and this time she was the one who united them. 

The next moments seemed as if they weren’t even real, as if the excited ecstasy that his touch inevitably awoken inside her was just some sort of a wishful, chimeric dream, however she realized all along that every single second, every single moment, every single touch was true, and it was all happening so fast, so uncontrollably…

She didn’t even realize how much did their passionate, heated kiss make her lose her connection to reality… until she suddenly felt the sensation of something soft against her back and of her legs unexpectedly loosing the ground from underneath them. She almost gasped from shock when she became aware of the fact that she was already lying on his bed, without having any idea how did she end up there so fast…. 

,,Ogron…,” she whispered his name almost involuntary as she suddenly felt his hot lips pressed against the skin of her neck, while becoming aware of the weight of his body on the top of hers, his strong body that trapped her between him and the soft bed so unexpectedly…

And then it truly hit her. This was all happening, this was all happening now… no, no, she had to stop it somehow, she couldn’t allow it…! She didn’t want this… she never wanted all of this. The only thing she wanted was to feel his arms around her body, to shamelessly enjoy the forbidden kisses his lips were giving her, to flirt a little with the tempting danger that came to her life so suddenly and out of nowhere, taking the form of an alluringly handsome, powerful man, who made her unable to resist the new, so far unknown desires that she felt whenever she was around him… however that didn’t mean she wanted it to end this way. That didn’t mean she wanted to give him everything, that she wanted him to be the one to touch her for the first time… he was her enemy after all. He was the one who turned her life upside down…

,,Ogron… let me go! Please…,” she gasped desperately while experiencing his insatiable, greedy touch on her body, and finally becoming fully aware of the fact that it was giving her no more pleasure, only such tormentingly intense fear…

Her distressed exclamation made him stop in his previous actions of wild, uncontrolled lust just at the point when he wanted to take them even further, however his mind still felt too clouded and blinded by all that he wanted and imagined with her that he barely managed to pull himself away from her neck and look into her lavender eyes for a short moment. He immediately noticed how terrified she was, how scared to death his sudden unrestrained actions left her… and for some inexplicable reason… he felt like that was wrong. He felt almost… sorry for her. There was still so much innocence and purity behind those eyes… 

Oh, but who cared? He was going to make her his and no foolish feelings of guilt were going to stop him.

,,What is it, my dear? Don’t tell me you’ve had a change of heart… unfortunately, it’s already too late for that. If you didn’t want this, you should have chosen your words more carefully. Now you’re mine, you can’t escape me… and the sooner you’ll accept that fact, the better for you…”

Before she could even realize it, he grabbed both of her hands and pressed them against the bed above her head, making it completely impossible for her to fight him in any way. The lust behind his eyes was so obvious, so raw and so intense that she was almost too scared to keep looking into them, feeling as if they were the mirror reflecting all what he was going to do to her, the vivid images of that act inside her head making her so terrified, making her regret all of her previous actions so badly… because one thing was clear. There was no way out of this…

_,,What a terrible idiot I was… this is all my fault. I’m only going to get what I deserve, nothing else… he’s right. I brought this upon myself...”_

,,Please… please, let me go… don’t do this…,” she heard her own quiet, terrified voice, she heard herself begging him, she heard herself throwing away every single piece of her pride so desperately and mindlessly, willing to do anything to make him change his mind…

,,Really? Are you begging me?” he asked mockingly, enjoying how defeated and desperate she suddenly was, this was a sight he wanted to see for such a long time after all, ,,have some self-respect, my dear… I’m sure you don’t want to loose your dignity like this. I assure you that no amount of words can save you now… besides those lips of yours,” he said with a small smirk as he slowly run his thumb along them, ,,… those lips are too pretty to speak so much when they could be used for something entirely different…” 

She tried to resist, she tried jerking desperately to get herself from underneath his strong body, however she already felt his touch in one another lustful, passionate kiss, and at that moment she knew that it was worthless, the grip of his hands on her wrists became even stronger after her small attempt to fight, and if her lips hadn’t been covered by his, she would definitely have let out a terrified gasp of shock after suddenly becoming aware of the fact that his hand was somehow already touching her chest…

,,Don’t resist…,” he whispered after he broke their kiss, his skin heated and his lips gasping for air, ,,you’ll only make this worse. And besides… I can be gentle… but only if I want to… so make me want to, for your own sake,” he said with a small smirk, his hand slowly getting under her T-shirt, feeling her terrified, quickened heartbeat underneath his fingertips…

,,Why… why do you even want this?” she asked while desperately trying to catch her breath, ,,you… you don’t love me… so why do you want to do this with me?”

,,That’s the thing about lust, beautiful. You don’t have to love somebody to share your bed with them. Sex born from hatred is so much more desirable… you’ll see soon enough... besides, don’t try to pretend you’re so innocent, that you know nothing about how these things work… if you were so angelically pure, you wouldn’t try to seduce me in the first place.”

,,I had no choice!” she snapped at him suddenly, letting the anger wash over her, trying to use it so desperately to block out the sensation of his touch, ,,you kidnapped me, you threatened me with all you said Duman would do to me, you sacred me do death, so of course I had to do something to prevent my situation from getting even worse!”

,,Stop lying and making excuses! Of course you had a choice, you always have a choice... but your choice was this, so bear the consequences! Believe me, they will be much more pleasurable that ending in the hands of my brother. Oh, and a little piece of advice… try to make my satisfied… if you will, I might change my mind and keep you for myself instead of giving you to Duman… that’s still a better option, don’t you think?”

,,A better option?! You sick bastard… you speak as if I should be grateful to you for giving me an option of becoming your personal whore… you can forget about it you son of a bitch, I’d rather die than lose my innocence to you!”

,,Watch your mouth! I can make your wish come true sooner than you think, if that’s really what you want! But not now… not before I make you mine!”

She gasped loudly as she suddenly felt his lips against her chest while his hands roughly grabbed her knees and pushed them apart… and that’s when it finally hit her. 

She _did_ have a way to escape this after all…

She didn’t even take a second to think about it… she quickly used her weakened magic to make the dagger she took before appear in her hand. 

The next thing she heard was his loud scream, the next thing she felt was his hot blood pouring down her hand like a waterfall, the next thing she saw was the terrified shock that replaced the wild lust behind his eyes…. and she couldn’t believe she truly did it. 

The unexpected pain made him fall on the top of her body, making the dagger push even deeper inside his stomach… and he felt as if his mind turned completely empty all of a sudden, he wasn’t able to think, he wasn’t able to understand, he wasn’t able to do anything… except for experiencing the terrible, tormenting pain and listening to the loud scream that he soon realized belonged to him…

The sudden feeling of his weight falling on her so unexpectedly made her gasp loudly and before she could even realize what she was doing, her hands reacted instinctively and pushed him of her immediately, making his wounded body fall on the bed beside her, the vivid crimson red blood spilling from his stomach, making the luxurious silky sheets turn wet and dark, while she mindlessly pulled the dagger covered in red out of him…

The first and actually the only thing he was able to notice was the weapon held by her shaky, bloody fingers… that dagger… how on Earth did it end up in her hands? That thing was supposed to stay hidden as it was for centuries, it was supposed to stay far away from his eyes and the eyes of any other human being, it was supposed to be forgotten so that it didn’t ever remind him of his past again and of the terrible crime he committed while holding that exact weapon so many years ago… now that he saw it once again it was suddenly so clear he was such a fool to even keep it. Oh, how mercilessly can the past catch up with somebody in the moment they least expect it…

,,You… how did you find that dagger?!” he snapped at her furiously, his words intertwining with the heavy breaths of the tormenting pain he was experiencing.

She wasn’t able to answer him. The shock caused by her action was simply too much to bear, too much to allow her mind to think straight…

,,You’ll pay for this… you’ll pay for ever touching that damned thing… and for daring to use it against me!” 

The next thing she realized was her terrified scream as she found herself with her back pressed against the soft mattress once again, his body trapping hers beneath him so suddenly and inexplicably, however this time there was no trace of the passionate lust she saw behind his eyes so clearly just a few moments ago. All she saw now was anger and rage, pure, raw, uncontrolled rage… and the weapon that she thought was still in her hand was there no more… instead it was pressed against her neck.

All of a sudden she felt how the blade cut her skin and it was sinking deeper and deeper into her flesh by each second, making her scream from pain while leaving her mind completely unable to process what was going on and how did it even happen so fast… no… he was _truly_ going to kill her now… please, God no, she couldn’t let that happen…!

,,..who is Bianca…?!”

She wasn’t thinking about her words. They were the only thing that crossed her mind that maybe, just maybe could possibly save her… she had no idea whether they were even going to work… but she did not have time to think. The name of that girl name suddenly appeared inside her head, emerging from her memory so inexplicably and so clearly, almost as if it screamed at her to save her life…

And the effect those words had was immediate. His eyes filled with a mixture of unreadable emotions met hers for a while, such intense shock written all over his face, his skin somehow seemed to turn even paler than it already naturally was… and his hand holding the dagger turned into stone, it pushed the weapon into her neck no longer, luckily only leaving her with a wound that could heal after some time… for now at least.

,,What on Earth is going on in here…?!” 

She suddenly heard a familiar voice, the one she didn’t think and didn’t hope she would ever hear again… however now it didn’t make her feel any relief, only such intense, petrifying fear…

Perhaps Ogron was right… perhaps she should have let him do what her wanted to do to her. Because how could that be worse than what the man whose life she almost took was going to do with her now…?

,,Ogron… what…,” his voice and his golden eyes were filled with shock as he quickly rushed to them, seeing his brother seriously wounded and holding a weapon against the neck of the girl who was supposed to be _his_ prey and _his_ prey only, ,,what is going on here…? Did she… did she do that to you?” he asked, his voice filled with nothing else than complete disbelief.

,,Yes…,” the red haired wizard growled angrily, trying so hard to hold back the gasps of pain that wanted to escape his lips so badly, but mostly trying to forget the shock caused by hearing the name that she reminded him of so unexpectedly…the name that he wanted to forget so badly…

,,But how…?”

,,It doesn’t matter how!” he interrupted him harshly while sitting up, putting great effort into that one simple movement that caused him so much agonizing pain.

,,You wanted to take your revenge, right? Well, she’s all yours. Take her and do whatever you want with her. But make sure you break her… make sure you break her completely!”


	22. Sin and Sacrifice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ: This chapter is a little different from all the ones I've written so far, so I'm writing this note at its beginning so that you don't get confused while starting to read it. 
> 
> This chapter doesn't follow the timeline of this story, because it actually portrays an insight into Ogron's past and where his story all began. I've been playing around with this idea to reveal something more about his character by revealing something more about his past for really long time before finally deciding to do it, and tbh, I'm still a little unsure of this chapter, I know I might be making this story a little too complex and complicated, but then I was like: well, I suppose I'll give it a try, since I really felt like writing about Ogron's past, sorry, couldn't help myself, lol:D
> 
> Of course, it was impossible to write about everything relevant that happened during his past in one chapter, so this is really just about the beginning of his story, more of his past will also be revealed during the present story, since it's going to determine and influence the present events as well in many aspects, however I'm not sure whether I'll write more chapters like this yet. 
> 
> Also, some of the characters in this chapter are based on real-life people, (I low-key got inspired by a TV series I'm watching, lol :D), I used their names and some real historical events concerning them, however even though they are real people who actually existed, this is just a work of fiction, I'm definitely not giving any accurate information about what they really were like, so please, take it with a grain of salt :D 
> 
> Anyway, I really hope that you'll like this chapter, even when it's kinda different, but I really hope so :D and of course, thank you all for your amazing support, for your comments and Kudos, they truly keep me motivated and inspired, so a huge thanks to all the fans of this story (especially to happy_ narwal11, you know you're amazing) ♥

Many years ago, back in the times when the people of Earth still believed in fairies, witches and wizards, when everyone knew they were real and nobody had a reason to doubt it, back in those old, forgotten times the only people who possessed true power and superiority were the ones gifted with magic, the only source of true limitless power, that for common people was just as frightening and terrifying as it was fascinating and unachievable. It was how the world has worked for centuries. It was the ancient, natural order of things, it has always been that way and nobody had a reason to believe it would ever change. Magic was the strongest weapon anyone could posses against their enemies and the most effective tool for gaining the respect and fear from all the mere commoners that for most of people gifted with magic meant nothing more than a source of their superiority, a mindless mass to exploit and rule over.

Some of those unfortunate commoners made up stories that they also soon started to believe, stories about beautiful women that possessed great magic, however instead of using it against people, they used it to help them and to give them hope that maybe one day they would be freed from the heartless tyranny of their lords who only used magic to intimidate them and demand their complete submission. People called these creatures fairies. 

However little did they know that the stories they believed in so desperately were so far away from the harsh, cruel reality. The reality that fairies truly did exist, however they were not what everyone imagined and believed them to be. 

They were the creatures gifted with the Light Magic, a force of sheer goodness born from the first rays of the first stars that emerged at the beginning of the universe. However the simple fact that fairies were born with this power didn’t mean they were also born with light and goodness inside their hearts. They were gifted with goodness, but they decided to ignore and refuse that gift, becoming women just as power-hungry, unjust and heartless as were the ones who called themselves witches, the creatures that possessed the magic born from the cold, vast darkness surrounding the first stars at the very beginning of all thighs, women born with the Dark Magic. And no different from these women were also men who were gifted with supernatural powers, it didn’t matter whether it was the magic of goodness or of evil, the men everyone called the wizards.

Only after many centuries had one fairy named Morgana decided that she didn’t want to use her magic as a tool for intimidation and manipulation, and as she decided this way, she also managed to convince a few other fairies that the great power coming from magic should never be used in such an unjust, cruel way as everybody used it in those days. And the number of young women gifted with Light Magic that decided to follow her became greater and greater, slowly but surely. And for many years they all fought bravely side by side to protect the people who were oppressed by the ones who misused the magic they were born with, they fought to restore justice and goodness in the world, even if it was at the cost of their own lives.

However many years before all of that happened, the desire for power that took roots deeply in the heart of anyone who had been gifted with magic was insatiable and boundless. There was no space for trust, for affection or for real love inside the cold, cruel souls lusting for influence and control. Only a few were different. Only a few were truly pure and innocent inside, however they were considered weak and were soon destroyed as a result of the intricate games played around them, the games in which vast, limitless power has always been the only price. Things worked this way in every single corner of the world.

And one beautiful, old city named Florence, one of the city-states in the country of Italy, was no exception. The seemingly magnificent, breathtaking city was hiding so much sinful secrets intertwining with powerful magic, all long forgotten and never mentioned by any book concerning its history. Only a few remember up to this day the how dark the glorious times of the famous Renaissance era truly were. Only the ones who lived to see it and were a part of all those twisted games… 

He was staring blankly outside the big window of the room covered in the first, gentle rays of the new day. The beauty of the still unfinished, breathtaking Cathedral of Florence, that he had a clear view on, should perhaps take his breath away at least a little, it was the most magnificent building he had seen so far during the short twenty-two years of his life after all… however his mind felt completely empty and void, just as did his heart. 

The sheets around him moved slightly as he put his arm around the tiny waist of the woman sleeping peacefully next to him. He gently pressed her still naked body against his chest, feeling the familiar softness of her skin underneath his fingers as he caressed it lightly.

She was so alluring, so tantalizingly beautiful, there was no doubt about that, her long, light brown hair was falling on her pale shoulders and down to her small waist, covering the tempting curves of her body so gracefully… she was perfect, truly flawless, however his heart still remained unmoved and emotionless, and no amount of beauty could ever change that.

After a few more moments of abstract, intangible thoughts concerning the woman in his arms, he decided to finally wake her up, pressing his lips against the skin of her neck gently, just as he did it so many times before. 

,,Ogron…,” he heard her quiet voice, the tired, half-asleep whisper escaping her lips and forming his name…

,,I have to go, Contessina…,” he whispered gently against her shoulder, pressing a small, tender kiss on her skin there as well.

,,No, please… stay with me at least for a few more minutes… I need you…”

Despite the drowsiness in her voice her plea still managed to sound so desperate and seductive at the same time, leaving him with the sudden feeling of a lustful need spreading like hot fire across his unclothed body intertwined with hers. Indeed, a heart can be empty and without love, however what the body feels and craves is an entirely different thing…

,,You know I’d want nothing more, my love… but the last night will have to be enough for the both of us. For now at least. Your husband will come back soon… and I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you what the consequences would be if…”

,,No, of course you don’t,” she cut him off with a slightly annoyed sigh and put her arms around him, intertwining their bodies covered in intimate touches from the last night even more, ,,tell me, why does my life have to be like this? Married to a man I never loved, who never cared about me, and at the same time so desperately and madly in love with the son of his worst enemy… fate hasn’t been kind to me has it?”

,,I don’t think it’s that bad,” he whispered into her hair while he gently run his fingers down her spine, feeling the shivers of pleasure that his touch left on her skin, ,,you might be married to a man whom you never loved, but that wasn’t your choice… and don’t forget you have a lover who adores you more than anything else in the world…”

Lies, so many lies… if only she knew… she would never have forgiven him. Her love for him was mindless and passionate, however deep and true, so undoubtedly real that there was a certain kind of innocence in it, despite the fact that their affair lasting for two years already was certainly far from being innocent… meanwhile he… he never cared about her. Not in the slightest, not truly…

,,Oh, Ogron… I love you so much…,” she said quietly, burying her fingers inside his blood-red hair and pressing her lips against his, so tenderly and so softly at first, however deepening that kiss so passionately and lustfully just a few moments after… 

He realized she couldn’t get enough of him and he realized what kind of power he had over her because of that. And gaining that power was exactly the reason why he still continued in risking so much with that forbidden, secret affair of theirs… apart from the reason that her body, still so perfect and flawless even despite the fact that she was eight years older than him, was one of the few pleasures he had in his miserable life.

Being born as the only son of Rinaldo degli Albizzi, one of the most powerful, most influential and richest men of Florence was a fate lot harder and much less pleasurable than it might have seemed. His father was a proud, supercilious, haughty man, a powerful magician who didn’t hesitate to use the darkest magic to achieve his goals, and who not only demanded nothing else than complete perfection from himself, but mostly from the people around him, while making absolutely no exception when it came to his son. It was actually exactly the other way around, he seemed to be a lot harder and more demanding on his own descendant then he was on anybody else. But Ogron knew that no matter what he did, no matter how hard he tried to fulfill his father’s expectations, it was never going to be enough. For one simple reason. He was not like the rest of his family, he was not like the rest of the people who ruled over this city… and even if that wasn’t his fault, he still knew his father was never going to be able to forgive him for that.

And the only escape he had from that reality was his own manipulative little game he decided to play with Contessina de Bardi, the wife of Cosimo de Medici, his father’s worst rival and the only man who thanks to his immense wealth felt like he had the right to question the role of Rinaldo deli Albizzi as the only most powerful man of Florence. 

He knew Contessina was going to be an easy prey from the moment they shared a few words for the first time. She told him how lonely she was, how desperately she longed for love and for affection… and he saw the admiration behind her eyes as they fell on his strong, muscular body, those eyes were an open book letting him read in her darkest, deepest desires, the desires he decided to fulfill… but not because of her or because he felt any need to share his bed with her. He realized it very well how dangerous might the consequences of his actions be. But she was so vulnerable, so desperate, so easily manipulable… however despite all that, she was powerful. She knew a lot of things, a lot of things that could be used against her husband and her entire family who rivaled his own when it came to power, wealth and magic…

So in spite of the fact that she had sworn her loyalty to a different man, in spite of the fact that she had already given him a child, her lips, her body and her heart belonged to no one else than to the young, handsome man with blood-red hair and piercing blue eyes, to the one she secretly shared her bed and her body with despite all the danger and risks… 

And those nights when the room was swimming with moonlight and when their intertwined bodies were overdosed on passion were the nights when secrets that should never be told and heard escaped carelessly in between the quiet sighs and small gasps, secrets covered underneath the dark veil of the night, secrets and betrayals soaking into their hot sheets and disappearing into the cold air, secrets dragged from her lips as a subconscious exchange for pleasure he was giving her, as he clouded her mind with satisfaction to the point where she was willing to tell him anything…

,,Contessina…,” he whispered gently into her lips, turning around so that his body ended up on top of hers, making himself pull away from her hot, tempting kiss and looking deep into those beautiful light green eyes, ,,your husband is going to be here soon. And if he finds me in your bed it will definitely be the end of me, I’m just not quite sure whether I’ll die immediately at his hands, or only later at the hands of my father. So I really have to go… but I’ll be back. You know I will…” he said as he caressed her cheek tenderly, playing the role of a true lover so skillfully, in a way that couldn't leave her with any doubts about his pretended feelings for her.

He sat up and wanted to leave the bed they shared, however she was clearly not ready to let him go just yet, since she put her arms around his waist from behind him to stop him, her fingers slowly caressing his chiseled abdomen and making him want to enjoy the pleasure of her touch for at least a while longer…

,,What a shame it is that the day can’t belong to us… only the night,” she whispered as she pressed a small kiss on his shoulder, ,,the night is the only thing I’m living for. I never enjoy the day and I know that you don’t either… I have to be around my husband and you around your father… tell me, is he still so cold to you? Still so demanding and unbending? You know, I really don’t understand him… you’re his only son and the heir who will carry on the legacy and the name of your family…”

,,You know very well why he’s like that,” he interrupted her harshly, more harshly than he intended to, however he was unable to help himself, ,,if I’d be at this place, if I'd have a son who was supposed to become the head of one of the most powerful families in Florence one day, and that son would be nothing else than a complete disappointment, I would have acted the same.”

,,You’re _not_ a disappointment,” she said firmly and gently turned his face a little to press a small kiss on his cheek, ,,you’re just too hard on yourself. But I want you to realize something. You didn’t spend so many sleepless nights gaining knowledge about your enemies and their weaknesses, you didn’t put so much effort into your education about politics and power just to let your father doubt you. Just look at all the things you’ve achieved so far, and you’re still so young… everybody in the Council of Florence respects you already, despite your age, and that’s all because of your impressive intelligence, skillful cunningness and your unbending will. They all know how brilliant your mind is, they know you have the ability and the determination to win every single game for power they’re trying to play and trust me… they all fear you because of that. They realize you have a lot to prove and that is what makes you so dangerous and strong… the only one who can’t see it is your father.”

,,You really think they fear me, Contessina?” he scoffed and turned around, pulling her closer to him and letting her sit on his lap while his fingers caressed the bare skin of her back gently, ,,or are you saying this just to make me feel better because you know how miserable I am? Come on, even you must realize that I am nothing compared to the men who rule over this city. How could a group of powerful, ruthless, centuries old magicians fear me, somebody who except for his blue blood has no right to be one of them?”

,,You’re too hard on yourself again. You need to stop doubting yourself like that. But I’ll tell you something I know for sure… my husband fears you, and he fears you more than he does your father. It’s just like I told you, trust me that you…”

,,I what, Contessina?!” he snapped at her and pushed her away, a lot less gently than he wanted to, before he finally stood up, ,,magic is power. The only true power. _Everybody_ knows that. So what does that make me, a man who doesn’t have it?!”

She sighted quietly before getting up as well, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking deep inside his blue eyes, those eyes that she loved so much, that made her go weak in her knees every single time she looked into them as intensely as now, those breathtaking, light blue eyes that reminded of ice…

She knew his fate wasn’t easy. Being born without the gift of magic in a family of incredibly powerful sorcerers, as the first one in long generations before him, was a disappointment not only to his father, but mostly to himself. And she also knew that despite the fact that Ogron was his child, Rinaldo truly and undoubtedly hated him. He only had one son and that son was far from what he wanted him to be, just because he didn’t have that one thing, because he didn’t inherit his powerful dark magic…

… and she couldn’t stand that. She couldn’t stand seeing the man she loved more than anything suffer because of his father’s arrogance and his insatiable lust for power…

,,You know… I probably shouldn’t be telling you this…,” she whispered quietly, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body against his, ,,but I know something. I know a secret that might help you get what you desire so much…”

,,What do you mean…?”

,,It’s wrong… it’s so evil, cruel and twisted that I really don’t know if I can tell…,” she smiled, looking at him seductively from beneath her dark lashes, ,,but maybe you’ll be able to persuade me… I think that if you made some of my desires come true, I might become too vulnerable and let that secret slip…”

The corners of his mouth lifted in a small, confident smile before catching her chin lightly with his fingers and pressing a sweet, long kiss of hidden, restrained passion on her soft lips.

,,I’ll make each and every single one of them come true in a way you can’t even imagine, my love…,” he whispered as his lips travelled down her neck, so slowly and tantalizingly…

If she knew something, he had to make her tell him. He simply had to, whatever it would take… but luckily he knew that shouldn’t be too hard. A few sweet words, a few tempting promises, maybe another night spent in her company, all to make her believe he truly loved her… and the dark secret that could possibly change his life once and for all would be a secret no more.

,,Oh, Ogron…,” she whispered quietly, ,,I’d do anything for you… but you should know… some secrets are dangerous. Because once you find out about them, they tempt you more and more each day, they’re always on your mind an even though you first think you would never do such a cruel, wicked thing, simply knowing that you _can_ do it and achieve your goals by it, is at the end of the day all you need know to do it anyway…”

,,All secrets are dangerous. I know the price. So don’t worry about me… just say it.”

,,There is a way for you to gain magic… but I warn you, the price you’d pay for it is terrible. The ancient dark magic has always had one rule only a few know about, a rule that if anybody who doesn’t have magical abilities takes a life of a person who does, the most powerful kind of dark force will find its place inside their souls for the rest of their days… however that’s not all. That would have been way too easy and would require no real sacrifice… and you can’t achieve dark magic without a sacrifice, one so huge it will tear your heart apart, leaving it with a deep wound, a wound to be filled with the powers you’re trying to achieve. The sacrifice I’m talking about is simple… the person whose life you take must the one you love the most…”

As she said those words, he immediately felt as if a cold hand with long, icy fingers grabbed his heart and squeezed it tightly, making it stop beating for a while, trapping his breath inside his chest as well, and filling him with such terrible, tormenting fear that left him completely unable to move, to think, to say at least something…

,,I know…,” she whispered, laying a hand on his cheek and caressing it tenderly, ,,I know who you’re thinking about. And I want you to know one thing. No matter how you decide, whether you’ll find enough darkness in your heart to do it or not, I’ll always stay by your side. I won’t judge you. However you’re the one who has to decide, you alone. You need to ask yourself this question and you need to answer it… what is worth more to you, invincible, superior magic and limitless power or Bianca’s life…?”

Only after she said those words it truly hit him. No… how could he ever have thought about something like that, even if just for a second? How could he have found that monstrous idea so… so tempting, even if just for a short while…?

,,No!” he exclaimed in an almost scared way and pushed her away immediately, turning around abruptly and grabbing his clothes, starting to dress as fast as possible, feeling that if he didn’t leave that room and her company in a few seconds, he’d probably go mad right at the spot. Why did she tell him this, why did she curse him with such knowledge…? Oh, he hated her for that, he hated her so much…

,,I know how much she means to you… and I’m not saying you should do it, but you need to realize… the power that act would grant you would be greater than you ever dreamed of, greater that you thought was possible, greater than the one of your father and all the men who rule this city together…”

,,Stop! Just stop speaking!” he snapped at her harshly, unable to restrain the storm of emotions that this new, dangerous knowledge has awoken inside him, ,,I will never do such thing! Not to her… never! I’m far from being a good man, but I’m not a monster like that and I’d rather die than become such a heartless beast!”

,,I warned you that this secret is dangerous!” she exclaimed as she grabbed his hand once he finished dressing up and clearly wanted to leave the room immediately, ,,but you wanted to know it anyway… so don’t you dare blaming me for this knowledge!”

,,How do you even know about such things?” he asked, trying to calm his voice at least a little, ,,you’re a fairy. You are gifted with the magic of light. You shouldn’t know so many things about dark forces…”

,,The fact that I was born with the magic of light means nothing. Dark magic, especially one born from an act like that, is very strong and dangerous… that’s why I decided to study it, to dig deeper and deeper and find out about all it’s secrets… and as a result I know a lot about it, so that’s why I’m warning you now, my love… it will change you. It will turn you into a man you won’t recognize. It’s the magic of evil after all… it’s not good for the world however it’s not good for your own soul in the first place… but the choice is yours.”

,,I made my choice. You don’t need to worry about me, because if this is the cost of real power, then I’d rather live without it. Goodbye, Contessina.”

Those were the last words he said before pushing her hand away and storming out of the room as fast as possible, foolishly trying to convince himself that if he left, the things he heard would disappear from his memory as if he had never known about them. And he realized that leaving so abruptly and with such cold words was not the smartest thing to do, he still needed to be on her good side, since she was the one who let him see inside the secrets of the family that was the greatest enemy of his own. But he couldn’t help himself, he still felt such raging anger against her… even though deep inside he realized that the only one who he had the right to feel anger against was him. 

Because the monstrous, sinful thought was still there. Still lingering inside his mind. Unable to leave… 

_,,That’s enough! I need to forget about it… right now! I would never do such thing, not to her, not to Bianca, the one person I love more than anything in the world… but I could gain so much… I would never be the helpless, weak boy without magic anymore, my father would finally respect me and see me as somebody who’s worthy of carrying on the legacy and the name of the Albizzi family, he would finally see all that I can do, for the first time in my life I could see pride behind his eyes… but what does it matter? Is the respect of one man worth more than refusing to take an innocent life…?”_

His feet carried him subconsciously, he knew the best way to get out of the house without being spotted, this was not the first time he was leaving his lover at the early dawn like this. However this time it was different. He never felt such a heavy, tormenting weight on his chest before, trapping his heart and his lungs, making his mind unable to think straight…

He didn’t even realize the exact moment when he left the house through the small door on it’s side and ended up outside. The street was quiet and empty, a quite unusual sight that could only be witnessed in the night and this early in the morning, and that was good, since the last thing he needed now were some annoying, curious glances of commoners that sure wouldn’t keep their mouths shut for long if they saw him, the only son of the Albizzi family, walking out of the house of the Medici family. Rumors spread fast in this city… so the next thing he’d know would probably be that those lowly, pathetic peasants were spreading assumptions about his affair, and soon there wouldn’t be a single soul in the entire Florence that wouldn’t know… that’s why he always needed to be so careful and make sure he left this soon, so that no eyes would follow him, none except for the ones of the few beggars on the street that were far too broken and concerned with their own miserable lives to care about the inappropriate affairs of the few privileged people who ruled over them. 

He tried to breathe in deeply the fresh, cold air to clear his head as his feet carried him back home, however he wasn’t even able to focus on such a simple task as to not think about anything. As he walked down the beautiful streets surrounded by houses of elaborate architecture and made his way around the still unfinished, yet breathtaking Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, he couldn’t help but contemplated the irony of it all. There was probably no place in the entire world filled with more magnificence and beauty, however he felt like there was also no other place filled with so much dirt, so much greed and lust, so many machinations and people willing to stab their own family in the back to gain power… but he was not one of them. Yes, he did desire influence and respect, he couldn’t deny that, however not at the cost of some things…

Soon he entered the big gate that led him inside a house just as splendid and ostentatious as the one he had left just a few minutes ago, letting the guards, who greeted him with a short bow of their heads, close the heavy wooden gate behind him as he quickly made his way back to his room, wanting nothing else that to finally sit down and have a little time to calm down and banish the twisted idea with a cold head for good…

However he never got to do that, since he suddenly felt someone grabbing his wrist, almost making him jump from the unexpected shock as he turned around abruptly, just to find out that two piercing, icy blue eyes, eyes that were just like his, were staring right at him with so much visible, raw anger flashing behind them. 

,,Where were you again?”

,,You know where I was. And I would appreciate it very much if the next time you want to talk to me you tried to say something instead of almost scaring me to death!” he spat sarcastically, however his voice didn’t sound nearly as annoyed and irritated as he intended it to. 

And that wasn’t just because of the soft spot he had for the person standing in front of him. But mostly because she looked so genuinely distressed, somehow angry but scared at the same time… 

,,What’s wrong?” he asked more softly, his concern for her momentarily making him forget all of his own previous worries, ,,you don’t seem alright. Did something happen…?”

,,How can you tell so easily?” she sighed as a small smile appeared on her lips despite the worried look on her face, ,,I can never hide anything from you…”

,,Of course you can’t,” he chuckled as he gently tucked a loose strand of her blood red hair behind her ear, ,,and neither can I. We are twins after all. We know and understand each other better than anyone…”

He didn’t even manage to finish his words when he suddenly realized she has thrown her arms around his neck, starting to sob into his shoulder, which left him completely taken aback. Her sobs were gradually turning from quiet and small into loud, intense ones that were shaking her entire frame while her tears were slowly rolling down her cheeks and soaking into his clothes.

And in that moment he immediately felt like he would be able to commit a murder right at the spot. To punish anyone who made his beloved sister cry so helplessly, anyone who has done something to hurt her so much… it didn’t matter who it was, he would make them pay, he knew that immediately, he didn’t even have to think about it…

,,Ariadne… what happened?” he asked in a worried voice as he put his arms around her protectively and held her close to him, somehow subconsciously wishing his tight embrace alone was enough to shelter her from whatever caused her so much pain…

She didn’t answer, she just kept crying into his shoulder, letting the tears she held back up to this moment fall from her eyes as she finally found the comfort she was looking for. She was definitely not the kind of a woman who cried often. In fact, she didn’t remember if she ever did. She has always been strong, ever since she was just a small girl, and nothing could break her so easily. And she hated weakness more than anything. She couldn’t stand it, she was way too proud for showing it, or for even feeling it, just like her father and her brother. It was simply in their blood, pride, arrogance and demand for respect have been running in their old, powerful family for decades.

However now she felt so much hopelessness and anger that she didn't know what else to do… and it seemed like tears were the only small solace she could get in this situation, other than the company of her twin brother, who for her has always been nothing less than the other half of her soul, and who was the only person whom she’d ever allow to see her this broken.

,,Ariadne, please…,” he whispered quietly, the fingers of his one hand subconsciously stroking her long red hair, meanwhile his other hand held her against him tightly, ,,you must tell me what’s going on… you’re scaring me. I’ve never seen you like this…”

,,If… if you really want to know… what’s going on…,” she managed to say between her intense sobs, ,,maybe… maybe you should ask our dear father…”

As she said those words his hands reacted immediately without his mind thinking, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her away slightly to be able to look into her eyes once again. 

,,What did he do?” he asked, his voice quiet and menacing, filled with so much barely restrained hatred and detestation that one would hardly believe that the person he was referring to was his own father, ,,I’m telling you, if he dared to hurt you somehow, I will make him pay, I will make him regret it, I will destroy that man whatever it takes…”

,,I wish you could…,” she said as a weak smile speed across her lips, comforted by her brother’s caring protectiveness ,,but you know that’s impossible. He’s too powerful… so all we can do is continue being his obedient, perfect children who always do exactly as they are told, even if it’s against their will…”

,,What did he make you do?”

She was quiet for a while. It seemed like she couldn’t even find the will to say those words out loud…

,,He wants me to get married,” she sighed eventually, lowering her gaze immediately, because now she suddenly couldn’t help feeling so ashamed, ashamed that this demand of her father, one quite ordinary and inevitable at her age, made her show so much weakness, ,,he has already chosen a husband for me, one our family would benefit from the most, the son of Andrea de’ Pazzi, the man who hates the Medici family just as much as our father does. He believes that if I marry his son, our alliance will be strong enough to finally overthrow the influence of Cosimo de’ Medici and grant the House of Albizzi the position of the most powerful family in Florence once again. However… that’s not what I want. That’s not what I want for myself, I don’t want my life to turn out like this, marrying a stranger, a man I’ve never even met…”

,,Ariadne…” he said in a confused voice as he caressed her face tenderly, wiping away a few tears from her cheeks, ,,you knew this day was going to come. It’s inevitable. We belong to nobility, we are the ones who rule and hold power, however that power comes at a price. Many prices, and this is just one of them. And you know, you always knew… people like us don’t marry for love. Marriage is just a way to form alliances and gain more influence, it’s nothing else than business.”

,,Business?!” she scoffed angrily and pushed his hand away harshly, ,,and you think that’s alright? You think it’s alright that my father wants to give me to a man I’ve never seen in my life as an exchange for power, that he basically wants to sell me, right into the bed of a stranger, so that he could enjoy more wealth and more control over the people of this city?!

,,That’s not what I meant… and what you say makes sense,” he admitted, trying to calm her down, ,,all I say is that that’s how it works, nobody cares whether it’s right or wrong. However I had no idea that you cared about it so much…”

,,Of course I did! And I don’t understand how can you be so nonchalant about this whole situation!” she snapped at him, even more indignant that before, ,,I won’t marry anyone like this, I refuse to! I don’t care what my father will do to me… but I’m telling you, mark my words, that if I ever decide to pledge my loyalty to anyone, it will be for no other reason than love, pure, uncorrupt, true love… only if I find a man whom I’ll be able to love more than my life and who will love me the same way…”

,,Oh, for goodness, you’re such an innocent soul, my dear sister,” he chuckled amusedly, ,,I had no idea you were thinking this way… who knew you were such a romantic?”

,,Stop teasing me, Ogron! I’m completely serious!” she exclaimed angrily.

,,But you’re not a realist, Ariadne,” he replied immediately, still surprised from the amount of anger his twin sister felt against something that he has always considered to be completely natural, ,,that’s not how things work in the world. Is love and freedom what you’re looking for? That’s fine, you can still have it, even after marring Andrea de’ Pazzi’s son. Why do you think noblemen and noblewomen have affairs between each other? Because marriage is not about your choice, but who you’re sharing your bed with is.”

,,And I had no idea you were so cynical,” she chuckled sarcastically, ,,is that a reason why you’re seeping with a married woman? Because you see so much beauty in having someone who will never be truly and entirely yours? Do you honestly find that so satisfying? Then we must truly have some different values… because I could never promise my loyalty to somebody and keep breaking that promise each night, making love to a different man that the one I gave my word to. You may think I’m a fool but you won’t change my mind… and you should know that what you and the rest of this city are doing under the cover of the night is completely wrong and despicable.”

,,You really think I’m cynical because I believe that marriage is nothing else than a matter of power and business, and that love should be found elsewhere? Actually, I’m much more cynical that that,” he said with a sardonic scoff, leaning against the cold stone wall with one shoulder in an indifferent way, ,,I don’t believe that true love between a man and a women can exist. It’s all about lust, Ariadne. Satisfying your needs and forgetting about the person who’s been willing to do that for you once the dawn and the new day come. Trying to combine love with pleasure is a bad idea. Because true love requires sacrifice and pain, and even though once you decide somebody is worth it, you’ll inevitably find out they’ve been sleeping in somebody else’s bed, sooner or later. Oh, and when it comes to Contessina and me, I don’t sleep with her because I love her. I only use her to get some valuable information from her when she’s in her most vulnerable state, overdosing on her own lust and forgetting she’s sharing a bed with an enemy. It may sound cold and heartless… but that’s real life, my dear sister…. so please, wake up, and do it soon, for your own sake. Forget that romantic nonsense you’ve been thinking about, for good. Nobody believes in it, and if you will, you’ll only make a naive fool out of yourself and pay the price for it one day…”

He saw that his words left her taken aback. However he couldn’t understand why. Maybe what he said wasn’t exactly highly moral… but who cared about morals in the world they lived in anyway? Love was a weakness only commoners could afford. That’s what their father always used to say and it made perfect sense. It’s either love or power, one couldn’t have both, and they were the ones chosen to carry the burden and the privilege of leadership and authority, however it was a privilege that came at certain cost. A cost he personally never considered to be that unbearably high. And that’s why he was truly surprised his sister had a different opinion… they always used to think the same way, their two minds were like one, so alike and inseparable, so he truly couldn’t understand this foolish weakness she has just shown. Of course, the fact that she was hurt made him feel hurt and uneasy as well, but he simply couldn’t see the reason for so much despair and tears…

,,I understand what you’re saying,” she said after a few seconds of silence, her voice calm and steady, ,,however you’re wrong. I will live my life the way I want to, and not the way the world around me tells me to. If I ever find a man whom I'll love enough to be able to die for him, that’s the only person I’ll give my heart and my loyalty to.”

Her voice showed no more signs of her previous powerlessness, she was just as he had always know her, strong, determined and unbending, she has decided and she was going to stand by that decision, no matter what it would take.

,,I won’t try to persuade you. I know very well how stubborn you are and that there is no way to change your mind once you set it to something… however I want you to know that your obsession with love won’t get you anywhere. I didn’t tell you to give up on it because I don’t want you to be happy, but because I want to protect you… I want to protect your heart from anyone who doesn’t deserve it and who will shatter it into pieces one day, despite all your blind, honest love… one day it will happen, Ariadne. You’ll see…” 

,,I don’t need your protection, Ogron,” she said coldly, taking a few steps closer to him, ,,I’m perfectly capable of protecting my own heart…”

A day ago, he would not have doubted her words. However now… he had to, and that made him worried, it made him so worried… how was it possible that his twin sister decided to allow herself such vulnerability? One more thing to worry about… but he was going to protect her, whatever it would take. And if he ever finds out that there is a man whom she truly loves and wants to give her heart to… he will destroy him, he will destroy him mercilessly, for her own good…

,,If you say so…”

,,Forget about it,” she sighed, already regretting her decision to let him know about the way she was thinking about these things, she knew was a such fool to hope he would understand, ,,that’s not what you should be worrying about now anyway… because father told me to find you and let you know you that he wants to speak with you.”

,,Oh, that’s wonderful,” he said ironically, ,,I’m always looking forward to our little conversations… I don ’t remember when was the last time anything good came out of them. Or the last time he didn’t make me feel completely worthless and weak. Didn’t he tell you what it is about this time?”

,,No… I have no idea. Maybe he found someone for you to marry as well... not that you would care even if he did, would you? You already have someone else to share your bed with… and you definitely wouldn’t feel the need to respect your future wife enough to stop sleeping with Contessina, am I right?” she said, the bitterness in her voice fitting her sarcastic remark.

,,I would respect her. Enough to let her sleep wherever she wants and whomever she wants with.”

,,That woman would carry your children. Don’t you find it at least a little twisted…?”

,,I’m tired of this conversation, Ariadne!” he burst out suddenly as a subconscious result of the uneasiness and anxiety he always felt when he knew he would have to talk to his father soon, ,,stop whining about such useless things! I don’t know if you realize it, but your fate is still a lot better than mine! You’re not the one being born without magic, being a complete disappointment to your father, and at the same time the one on whose shoulders lies the entire weight of carrying on the legacy of this family!”

,,Well, maybe if this world wasn’t so narrow-minded as to only allow men to hold true power, you wouldn’t be so lonely in your unbearable responsibility!” she spat sarcastically, ,,our father has more than just one child after all, and you’re not the only competent one just because you’re his only son!”

,,Yes, you’re right! But when will you finally realize that the world is unfair? Your life is unfair and so is mine. And there is nothing we can do about that! So now I hope you’ll excuse me, because I have to go and experience that unfairness once again, while you can just stay here whine about… whatever you feel like whining about I guess, I’m getting confused already… goodbye, Ariadne.”

He turned around abruptly and started walking away as fast as he could, making his way to his father’s office and leaving his twin sister behind, leaving her just as angry and indignant as he felt himself. 

However it didn’t take long for the storm of rage inside him to calm down and be replaced by regret and guilt. He shouldn’t have said the things he did, at least not that way. It wasn’t her fault that their father decided he wanted to talk to him, it wasn’t her fault that the following conversation was definitely not going to be pleasant, it wasn’t her fault that he couldn’t become what everybody wanted and expected him to be… and yet she was the one to experience his anger and frustration about the whole miserable helplessness of his life. She, one of the only two people he ever truly cared about… he knew he would have to make this right. Hurting her worse than hurting himself…

However that would have to wait since now there was a quite different matter he had to take care of first. He couldn’t help but hesitated for a while, his lifted hand lingering in the air for a few seconds before he finally decided to knock on the door of his father’s office. 

,,Come in,” a familiar voice said from the inside immediately.

He took one last deep breath to calm down before opening the door slowly, taking a step to enter the room and finally shutting the door behind him.

It was still very early in the morning, however it was no surprise to him that his father was already awake. Rinaldo has always been a man who hated any kind of useless idleness, and ever since Ogron could remember he had always seen him working until the late night and waking up earlier than anyone in the entire house, even more early than the servants and maids, which in the society they lived in was considered quite unusual.

,,Ogron,” his father sitting behind a large desk said as he lifted his gaze from the book he was reading, greeting him with a small nod and asking him with a brief gesture of one hand to sit down on a large, comfortable chair in front of his desk.

Ogron did as he was asked to, taking a few steps and sitting down, trying to look as calm and composed as possible. However at the same time he couldn’t help but noticed something unusual about the man sitting opposite him, he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but for some reason he felt something about him was different. 

A small flicker of light coming from the lamp on the desk illuminated his face, the warm color of its flames dancing on his dark, almost black hair, one another thing his son didn’t inherit from him, just as he didn’t inherit the sharp, thin features of his face that could only hardly be described as handsome. Ogron and Araidne both took after their mother entirely when it came to looks, however her unique, alluring beauty, that inspired so many great artists of Florence just as it managed to steal the heart of one of its most powerful men, was now only seen and remembered in her children that inherited this gift from her, since she was already gone for long years. 

It was something Ogron was never able to deal with completely, his pain from her loss felt still so fresh and intense, she left so suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving him when he was still so young and vulnerable, leaving him behind with nobody else than his father, the one who never showed him any affection or gave him any kind of warm, familiar love… so there was no denying that he missed her. Even after all those years, he always did.

,,You wanted to see me, father?” he asked after a while, surprised that Rinaldo still didn’t say anything, almost as if he couldn’t find the right words.

Little did he know that was exactly the reason for his silence…

,,Yes. There is something I need to discuss with you,” he replied to his son’s question, his voice still neutral and his face expression unreadable, ,,actually no, not discuss. I need to tell you about something, a decision I made after a long time of thinking about it… and coming to the conclusion that it’s the best option, the only responsible and reasonable thing I can do for this family.”

,,What is it about?” Ogron asked, a little taken aback at those words, since it was not what he expected to hear. 

He expected to hear complaints of his father about how he was not satisfied with him once again, about how he should have done this and that differently, things he always used to reprimand him for, like how he should have thought and listened more before speaking during a meeting of the Council of Florence, how he should be more responsible and learn more about the weaknesses of his enemies, how he should try better to understand the subtle art of politics and machinations, how he should just generally try to be better and less of a disappointment… he expected to hear all those complaints that were only hiding Rinaldo’s one true dissatisfaction and discontent… that his only heir was born without magic, and therefore without any real power.

But now his father was calm, truly calm, which only happened rarely. It was him from whom Ogron had inherited his hot temper after all… so he couldn’t help but had an unsettling, bad feeling about what was going to come.

,,I’ll tell this you without any more unnecessary words,” Rinaldo said and looked straight into his son’s eyes, meanwhile his own were cold and emotionless, reflecting how he truly felt about the words he was going to say, ,,you know I never wanted you to be the one who would inherit the legacy and the wealth of this family. I think I don’t need to explain why… and I think you have no right to blame me for thinking that way. However since you’re my only son, I had no other option than you, at least that’s what you thought and that’s what I let everyone believe in… but now it's high time you all found out the truth. You’re not my only son, Ogron. Some years ago I had an affair with a noblewomen from Milan and she ended up getting pregnant with my child, giving birth to a boy afterwards, a boy named Ormanno Visconti. And even though he was nothing else than an illegitimate child, I always took care of him and made sure he got just as much wealth, education and luxury as he would if he was the child you your mother, my lawful wife. I never told anyone about him, not letting anybody know I have more than just one son, and I did that for one very specific reason… a reason I think is already clear to you.”

For a few seconds Ogron found himself unable to do or say anything at all, he was just sitting there, looking into his father’s cold, heartless eyes, the shock and disbelief caused by his words making him realize he somehow didn’t even believe they were true, he couldn’t believe they were true, he couldn’t believe this could be happening…

,,Are you… are you serious, father?” he heard himself ask, the words escaping his mouth quite subconsciously, getting more and more angry by each second, ,,I have a brother and you never even bothered to tell me about this?! How could you?!”

,,Calm down, Ogron! I won’t tolerate you speaking in that tone of voice to me!” Rinaldo interrupted him harshly, understanding his son’s rightful indignation and shock, however definitely not willing to let him disrespect him like that.

,,Why have you never told me about him?!” Ogron continued, standing up from his chair abruptly, ignoring his father’s words completely and letting the rage and anger caused by this unforgivable betrayal take over him, ,,just so that you can stab me in the back like this one day when you decide the time is right?! So that one day you can simply decide to tell me that everything I believed I had, everything I believed I was, was a lie?! That you always had a different plan, that you always wanted to take what’s rightfully mine away from me?! “

,,I never told you anything because had to protect him,” his fathered answered calmly, his face expression still showing so signs of anger, ,,he has always been the only hope for this family. But if I had let you know about him, I have no doubts that you would have destroyed him, not caring for the fact that he’s your family at all… because I know that you don’t lack determination, pride, and heartlessness, just like me, and you would never let me take what you think should be yours from you…” 

,,What I think should be mine?!” he spat angrily, placing both of his hands on his father’s desk and leaning towards him, ,,it’s not what I _think_ , father, it’s how it truly is! And if _you_ think I’m letting you take the legacy and the right to become the head of this family away form me, if you think I’ll just give it up and let your _bastard_ son have it all, you’ve never been more wrong in your entire life!”

He didn’t even know where did he find the courage, or perhaps the foolishness, to speak to his father in this way. This was the first time he ever raised his voice in his presence, since throughout his entire life he had always respected and even admired him like nobody else, in spite of how he treated him. He didn’t even know why, it was probably only natural for a son to look up to his father, to want to make him proud and to gain his approval and respect, even though that never happened in his case and probably also never would. 

However now all that respect and admiration was gone in a blink of an eye. He felt as if he didn’t care about anything anymore, he couldn’t care less about what consequences his angry outburst might have. He was not going to lose everything just because his father didn’t consider him worthy of being his heir. He was not going to lose influence and power, even if those in his case only came from being a son of a powerful family, but it didn’t really matter. 

He realized it now. He _needed_ power. He craved it. He couldn’t live without it. It was the one thing he never truly had… and the one thing he was going to do _anything_ for to achieve. And the fact that true power never belonged to him only made his desire stronger, wilder, more desperate… and more dangerous.

,,Watch your mouth, son!” his father snapped at him angrily, ,,you will not speak about him like that! He might be a bastard, yes… but he’s still more useful than you. You have no idea what a disappointment you’ve always been to me… I’ve never told you this openly but now I think it’s finally the right time. Tell me, could you seriously expect me to put the fate of this entire family, to put the fate of this entire city, in the hands of someone who is nothing more than a weak, lost child? Tell me, what is your blue blood good for if you can never posses true power? If you can never possess magic? You were born into wealth and superiority… but you don’t have what it takes to keep it…”

,,You still can’t do that,” Ogron interrupted him suddenly, taking a deep breath and trying to steady his nerves enough to be able to think straight again, ,,it’s against the law. No illegitimate child can become the heir of the family’s name and legacy. You should be the one to know that. You were one of the men responsible for establishing the laws of this city after all…”

,,And that is why I can disobey them whenever I find if convenient. It seems like you truly haven’t learned anything about power, even if it’s not about magic… so listen to me carefully now, Ogron, and remember my words. Until the day you become worthy of being my heir, until the day you acquire magic somehow, I don’t care in what way, you can forget about having the right to even call yourself my son anymore, not to even mention calling yourself the next heir of this family! I’ve put up with the shame of having a son who’s been nothing but a disgrace to me for too long already… and it’s over. Soon I’ll announce it to everyone that I have somebody to replace you with…”

,,No!” he heard himself shout, interrupting his father harshly, unable to control his furious rage and his tormenting desperation anymore, ,,I’ll kill you and that bastard before you manage to utter a word about it…!”

,,Ogron?” 

His raging outburst was suddenly broken off by a scared, quiet voice. A voice of a child. They both turned around abruptly, the shock caused by hearing that sweet, innocent voice in the middle of their heated conversation, that none of them would wish for a child to witness, almost making their hearts skip a beat.

,,Ogron, what are you talking about… you… you didn’t mean that, right?” a little girl with pale skin, black hair and lovely, innocent blue eyes asked in a scared voice, standing in the doorstep with worry and uncertainty written all over her face.

,,What are you doing here?!” Rinaldo snapped at her, more harshly then he intended to, ,,how many times do I have to tell you that you can’t come into my office?! I’ve forbidden you to come here so many times, or haven't I?!”

After his strict, scolding words she seemed to be even more scared and unsure of what to do next, however she definitely didn’t seem like she was going to leave. As if what she heard and seen was bothering her too much to be able to just turn around and walk away… and Ogron could understand her worry.

He suddenly felt so much guilt as his eyes met hers, she was so frightened, so afraid… and it was all because of him. Oh, how much did it hurt to see her like this just because of him, just because of what he said… did he truly make her afraid of him now…? 

However at the same time he still felt so much rage, so must wild anger, a storm of emotions swirling inside his head… and that was making it completely impossible for him to think straight…

Thoughts came together immediately, forming ides intertwining with temptations, resulting in a desire so wrong and so twisted, in a desire that could only be born in a desperate mind clouded by an insane will to do anything to achieve what it knew it wanted in that moment more than anything…

And he knew what he was going to do. Suddenly it was as clear as day. He realized he would regret it later… but that mad desire made him act without even allowing his mind to think…

,,No… of course I didn’t mean that. I would never do that. I’m so sorry, Bianca… please don’t be scared” he said softly, getting down on one knee and opening his arms, ,,don’t worry, my darling. Come here.”

She looked as if she was hesitating for a moment, before she decided to run into his embrace, to run towards him and bury her head into his shoulder, his few reassuring words enough to make her believe he couldn’t be lying. Of course they were enough… why shouldn’t she trust him? Why should she doubt what he said? He always loved her and took care of her, he was the best person she knew, he would never to anything so bad, he would never harm anyone…

He embraced her tiny, fragile body with one hand tightly, meanwhile his other one travelled slowly to his own waist… and his fingers felt as if the didn’t even belong to him when they closed around the hilt of a dagger he always carried with himself, a beautiful, expensive dagger decorated with golden and silver lines and a small piece of ruby on its hilt. 

And his hand felt as if it was out of his control, as if it had its own will when the pulled that dagger out with one sharp, unexpected movement… 

And at the same time he realized that this was the moment when he sold his soul to darkness and evil once and for all… when he succumbed to the temptation of the sinful magic that would become his sweetest pleasure and his worst nightmare for the rest of his life… he knew this was the moment when the human inside him died and was replaced by a heartless, power-hungry monster, from now until the rest of his days…

Because he killed himself as well. He voluntarily killed himself in the moment when he pushed the dagger deep inside the heart of his beloved little sister… and became one of the most powerful wizards to ever bear the everlasting curse of this powerful, cruel, dark magic...


	23. Promises and Betrayals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter contains graphic descriptions of torture and violence, I tried not to make it too intense or disgusting, but that's just my personal opinion, I'm sure that to somebody it might seem pretty unpleasant anyways, so if you're not comfortable with reading such content, I recommend skipping the first part of this chapter. 
> 
> Also, I apologize to all Duman's fans, since in the beginning of this chapter I probably made him pretty dislikable... but I hope that at least the rest of the chapter will make up for it and humanize him a little as well :D
> 
> Anyway, without any further ado, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, thank you all so much for your support, I'm really grateful to anyone who left a comment or a Kudos, it truly means so much to me♥

Roxy's eyes were closed and her cheeks wet from tears. Her wrists and ankles were tied to a wooden table she was lying on, her breaths were heavy, her hair damp from the sweat rolling down her face, and her body felt as if it was on fire, the fames of agonizing, unspeakable pain consuming each part of her, cruelly and mercilessly. 

She has already lost track of time completely, she had no idea for how long was she enduring this tormenting hell that Duman was putting her through. Was it a day? A few hours? Or only minutes…? Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing except for this inhuman torture that made her wish she would finally fall into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness, that even made her wish her own death so many times already from the moment he first caused her that intense, unbearable pain…

He was a monster. A wicked, cruel, sadistic monster. She has always known he was a villain and a dangerous man but this… she would not have imagined he would be capable of something like this in her worst nightmares. She would not have imagined that anybody, any human being could be capable of harming someone like this, no matter how much hatred they would feel or how dark and vicious their soul would be. 

She wished she had killed him back there in the forest. Oh, how much pain would she have spared herself if she did… and at the same time she couldn’t believe she found herself thinking like that. That she found herself wishing for somebody’s death. All that torture and agony was truly turning her into an animal, an animal with nothing more than primal instincts, that insanely intense urge to do anything to survive, to get rid of the pain… 

She vaguely remembered Ogron’s words, the ones he had told her while she was still in his room. That she shouldn’t feel relieved that the shapeshifter survived… that she should fear it more than anything. Oh, and he was right, he was so right…

Her scream filled the room once again after a few seconds that he mercifully let her body rest without causing it any pain. But it wasn’t long until her mind and all her sensed were clouded by the torment caused by a knife cutting her skin open, this time right under her collar bone, moving down slowly… 

The blade was leaving a thin red line behind it’s cruel touch as it travelled down her chest, between her breasts and down to her abdomen, and she could only imagine the sadistic glow behind his golden eyes as he heard her scream once again. He undoubtedly seemed to enjoy that very much… and unfortunately it seemed like he wasn’t able to satisfy his need for this twisted pleasure even after everything he has already done to her. 

,,Oh, just scream, little fairy… I love that sound more than anything…” she heard him say, his words followed by an evil chuckle, ,,what should I do to you next, hmm…? I think I’m running out of ideas. And I don’t want to kill you, not just yet, I want to play with you a little more before granting you that wish… you wish for it, don’t you?”

He grabbed her chin roughly and made her look straight into his golden eyes, the eyes filled with so much revolting satisfaction from what he was doing to her, that it made her turn her gaze away immediately, without even realizing it.

,,Look at me when I’m talking to you!” he snapped at her harshly, his fingers digging into her jaw so painfully that they made her let out one another short scream before forcing her eyes to look back at him, fear and terror clearly written all over her face. 

,,There you go, much better…,” he said and a small, cruel smirk started to play on his lips as he lifted his hand with the long knife covered in blood, in her blood, in it. He pressed its blade against her cheek, painting it red and making her let out a small, involuntary whimper as he started turning it around slowly until the sharp edge was resting against her pale skin. 

,,I think I know what will I do next…I haven’t touched that pretty, innocent face of yours yet… which brings me to a question why? It would be a shame not to make it even more beautiful… and the only thing that can make a fairy beautiful is blood.”

,,Why… why do you do this…?” she managed to ask in a weak, almost inaudible whisper, unable to speak properly, since her throat was already so terribly sore from all the previous screams she has let out.

,,What do you mean why, little fairy?” he laughed suddenly, his laughter so honestly amused as if she had said a good joke, ,,can’t you figure out the answer? It’s not that difficult… come on, tell me why do _you_ think I’m doing this,” he said teasingly, the sadistic glow not leaving his eyes, however this time it was also joined by some sort of a twisted playfulness behind them.

,,I… I don’t know…”

,,Then think!” he snapped at her unexpectedly, his knife cutting her skin, getting deeper and lower, so slowly, so agonizingly, ,,or suffer…”

_,,Dear God, what have I done to deserve this…? Why is this happening to me? Is this a punishment for all the things I’ve messed up and done wrong in the last days? For almost killing Duman while being controlled by my blind anger, for seducing Ogron while knowing what the consequences might turn out to be, for getting involved with him in this way, for not being able to control my shameless, dirty lust…? Yes, if it wasn’t for my lust for that man’s touch, for his lips and his body, none of this would ever have happened… I should have listened to Bloom when she tried to warn me that this is exactly how it would end…”_

,,Because you want your revenge!” she cried out desperately, shouting out the first thing that came to her mind, obeying his demand mindlessly, willing to do anything to make the pain stop, ,,because I almost killed you…”

,,Is that what you think?” he asked, the anger in his voice replaced by the tone of the twisted amusement once again, ,,no, my dear, naive, little fairy… revenge is sweet, yes, but that’s not what this is about. You want to know why I’m doing this…?”

Her loud scream of immense pain filled the room once again as his knife suddenly stopped cutting the skin of her cheek, only to make the whole blade sunk deep into her tight, with one sharp, unexpected movement of his hand…

,,Simply because I can!” he laughed sadistically, turning the knife in her wound with so much twisted pleasure that she simply couldn’t believe once again how was it possible that a soul of any human being could be so dark, cruel, and evil…

Why was she still awake? Why couldn’t she become unconscious? So much pain would definitely have caused anyone to faint… but why was her body tormenting her with the inability to fall into that blissful oblivion, into that vast, comfortable emptiness…? It must have been magic. He must have put her body under a spell, so that he could continue enjoying his inhuman torture without being interrupted by the desperate needs of her body, by those desperate needs to numb the pain even if just for a short while… 

And suddenly she wanted to cry, to shed desperate tears as she realized once again that there was simply no way out of this. Because that sick bastard’s hunger for blood and suffering was truly insatiable and boundless…

Oh, if she could only turn back time… she would have surrendered her body to the red-haired wizard in a blink of an eye, she would have let him take her innocence and her dignity in the most heartless, merciless way, and if he now showed up down in the dark room where Duman tortured her, she would even probably beg him to do it, she would beg him to take her body and make her his in an exchange for ending this unbearable suffering…

,,No one becomes a monster like this only because they can…,” she heard the quiet whisper escaping her lips, words flowing out without her mind thinking at all, ,,no one is born as a savage, a perverted brute who enjoys suffering and pain…”

,,Oh, you’ve got some guts, don’t you?” he chuckled quietly, ,,good, at least you’re making this more interesting… unlike all those pathetic bitches I’ve been torturing so far. They were all the same, scared, weak wimps, all begging me for mercy, all willing to do anything just so that I would stop causing them pain for at least a few minutes… but none of them ever spoke to me like this. And you see, I’m not sure whether I should have some mercy with you because of that, or punish you for it… what do you think…?” 

,,Why do you even bother asking…?” she asked, the contempt, the hatred and the humiliation in her voice so clear, despite the fact that that weak voice was already nothing more than a barely audible whisper, ,,you’ll torture me to death anyway… so go ahead. I can’t stop you…”

,,That’s right, you can’t…”

As he said those words she saw how he suddenly formed a spell in his hand, the dark, ominous smoke getting more and more intense each second… and she could do nothing else than watch in horror as he slowly lifted his hand and pointed the spell in her direction…

…a few moments later she wished to die. And not just inside her head… she heard her own voice, she heard herself screaming so loudly that even her lungs hurt from it, she heard her own voice begging him to kill her, begging him for that mercy, unable to wish for anything else…

She tried to focus on his words as he responded, however all she wasn’t able to make out his words completely, now matter how hard she tried…

,,…and you were even such a naive, pathetic fool when you wished for me to live… you idiot… you should have wished for my death, now you are wishing your own instead…”

And suddenly it stopped. All the pain, it was gone… only the cruel reminders of its presence still lingering inside her deadly exhausted body, however his spell was undoubtedly gone. She didn’t understand how, she didn’t understand why… she was too tired to think. All she wanted was to rest…

,,Oh, but I will grant you your wish, little fairy. I promise I will,” she heard his small, evil chuckle, ,,however if my brother ever taught me something useful, that would be not to let any fairy die before ripping her lovely, beautiful wings off… and making her magic mine. And I would sure hate to let down the man who raised me… that son of a bitch might be the worst example of a father figure and an older brother in the entire world, however I’m still grateful to him for teaching me a few useful ways to gain power from my victims…”

,,Ogron raised you?” she asked weakly, unable to understand why was she even trying to make a conversation with him, this was probably nothing else than one another stupid, unnecessary, bad idea, ,,why am I not surprised… a bastard like him truly couldn’t raise anything else than a wicked, sadistic monster…”

,,Watch your mouth!” his outraged shout interrupted her all of a sudden and the next things she felt was a sharp, intense pain on her cheek as he slapped her face with the back of his hand, with so much force that it made even more tears cloud her sight immediately. She felt the taste of blood in her mouth mixing with the taste of her tears, suddenly making her so sick she that felt like throwing up immediately, meanwhile she found herself subconsciously wishing to go back in time once again, and make whatever decisions needed to avoid all of this… 

,,You may call me whatever you like, I’ll make you pay for each word with blood and suffering anyway, but no pathetic bitch like you will ever dare to call my brother like that, do you understand?!” 

She didn’t want to answer, but even if she did, she wouldn’t get the chance, since the next thing she felt was more pain, once again, however this time describing her agony merely as pain could never express what she experienced in that moment…

Because this time she didn’t only hear the sound of her scream, she also vaguely realized she heard the real sound of her pain, of its source… because what she heard was nothing else than the sound of bones breaking and crushing, all under the darkness of his cruel, evil spell…

It felt as if the pain coming from her left tight wanted to kill her, it was so horrible, so unbearable, so… it was simply too much… why, why couldn’t she just finally lose her consciousness…?

,,Scream, you little bitch… it’s music to my ears,” she heard his vicious laughter once again, ,,I’m sure you’ll think twice before speaking now…”

A few moments later she felt that the bonds around her wrists and her ankles disappeared, so suddenly and unexpectedly, she had no idea how and why did it happen, however she didn’t even have enough strength left in her tortured body and mind to think about it… she only knew it wasn’t a good sign. It definitely wasn’t a good sign at all… and she dreaded what would come next with so much terrible, petrifying fear…

And when she felt his hands grabbing her roughly and making her sit up, meanwhile involuntarily making her let out loud sobs and groans of pain, she suddenly realized what was going to happen next.

_,,No… no… God, please, no, anything but this, he can’t do this to me…”_

However she knew it was going to happen. Only a miracle could save her now… but unfortunately, no miracle didn’t seem to be quivering on the horizon, she was alone, she was desperate and there was no one to save her now…

His hand touched her back and not even a second later she felt his magic against her skin, and she had no way of resisting, she was too weak, so she knew that any attempt at trying to save herself would be nothing but completely futile… so she could do nothing when her wings appeared on her back, completely against her will, she could do nothing, only expect her cruel, painful fate that she was going to meet any second…

,,You can’t imagine how often have I imagined this exact moment…,” she heard his quiet voice, ,, ,,and finally… your suffering will be mine, your wings will be mine, your magic will be mine… and I will finally take my revenge.”

Why couldn’t he just do it? Why did he have to torment her like this? Torment her with the expectation of the inevitable so mercilessly…

And then, all of a sudden… it was done. He ended her suffering and replaced it with a new one… and the sensation of physical pain was strong and unpleasant, however for some reason, it was not unbearable. Perhaps her body just got so numb, so accustomed to pain that it wasn’t even able to consider this one so terribly tormenting. However, that changed nothing about the other form of torture that his ruthless act of ripping her wings off with one quick, shark movement of his wrist caused her… 

Suddenly she felt so… empty. So numb. So helpless… because he took from her all that she was. He took away the gift, or perhaps the curse, of the magic she has only recently discovered she even possessed… but that magic was a part of her. The bond between her and her powers should have been indivisible, or at least that’s how she probably subconsciously felt all this time, until finding out now that it was so far from the actual reality… until she experienced how did it truly feel to loose something she always thought she would rather not have at all, but actually needed it so desperately…

But what will happen now? Now that her magic was gone and belonged to that sick, sadistic monster…? He would kill her, she didn’t even try to have hope it could end any other way, however what would happen to the rest of this entire world now that she’s been defeated once and for all? She was the only thing that kept the wizards from their victory, from whatever they were trying to achieve… only now did she realize that she actually had no idea what exactly were those ruthless, cruel men fighting for… perhaps each one of them was fighting for something else. 

There was no doubt that what Duman craved was blood and suffering, but as for why, she truly didn’t know, she truly couldn’t imagine what he must have gone through to become like this, however she was convinced that he must have had his share of suffering as well… no one is as born a beast after all. As for Anagan and Gantlos, she basically knew nothing about them at all, so she couldn’t even guess what made them become the heartless, cruel men they were… and when it came to Ogron, she didn’t even try to imagine what his motives and his goals could be, since every single time she thought she already knew at least something about that man, he only kept proving her she didn’t know him at all… he was an enigma to her, a mystery, dark and dangerous, however still so tempting for some reason, even after all the things he’s done to her. Even after turning her life upside down she couldn’t bring herself not to think about him, even in this moment… 

And then she suddenly realized her abstract thoughts were intertwining with the shapeshifter’s voice, she heard him saying something, but she wasn’t able to make out those words at all… because her eyes were finally closing, just when she least expected them to, her body has finally decided to give her the rest she needed so desperately, to let her fall into the deep darkness of such sweet oblivion… 

And the last thought she had was the one of two piercing icy blue eyes and the tantalizing touch of soft lips against her skin…

When Duman saw the girl falling unconscious, his reaction was far from pleased. How could this even happen…?! It shouldn’t be possible, he has put a spell on her body to keep her awake no matter what after all, to prevent her from getting any rest, to prevent her mind from escaping to some distant place far away from him and his merciless torture… because he wanted her to suffer every single second before he would finally decide to end her miserable life.

Her tears, her screams, her groans of pain, it all brought not so much enjoyment to him, and that enjoyment was coming from relief, relief that he finally got a chance to vent all the raging, stormy emotions inside his head, to vent them by distracting his mind with something else, with the revenge he craved so passionately… 

Because in spite of what he had told her, his reason for behaving like nothing else than a bloodthirsty, perverted animal, was not the fact that he simply could behave as one. Oh no, that was far from the truth… the truth was that he simply had to do something to keep his thoughts away from the conversation he had with his brother only a few hours ago. 

After all those years, he had finally gathered enough courage to tell him how he had always felt about the way he treated him, how he despised him for all he’s put him through, for constantly making him feel like he wasn’t good enough, like he was nothing but a disappointment…

_,,Oh, for goodness’s sake, I can’t believe all the things I’ve done for that man… I killed for him, I tortured for him, I became a monster for him… all so that he could destroy his enemies one by one, so that he could always gain more and more power… what a fool I was, what a naive idiot… now that I look back I see that I’ve been nothing else to him that a puppet, a weapon. And what’s even worse, he never told me I meant at least something to him, not even once… and he knew what he was doing to me. He knew it very well, because his father did the same thing to him… so that could only mean that he never cared about me, that he lied to me all those years just so that he could continue using me for his dirty work… how could somebody wonder that I became a monster like this? I never said I wanted it… I just sold my soul and my loyalty to the wrong person, a person who destroyed me and made me this… this beast. Yes, what’s become of me is his responsibility. Because if he ever bothered to show me at least a little affection and love, I might actually end up being a completely different man… but only what kind of a man can a child who never knew love turn into…?_

,,… what are those tears for, my love…?”

He almost jumped from shock when his thoughts were interrupted by that familiar voice. How was it possible… how was it possible she was here…? 

Only now did he realize he was on his knees, and his face buried in his palms was covered in desperate tears, the tears he used to release all of that centuries old sorrow… and there was a hand on his shoulder, that soft, long-forgotten touch that felt almost unreal…

And for some reason he didn’t care about being vulnerable and weak at all. Not when she was there… they’ve seen each other’s vulnerability so many times before after all. They’ve exposed their souls to each other a long time ago, throwing away all the pretense and pride for good, promising never to hide any kind of pain from each other. And he only hoped she still remembered that promise even after all he’s done to her… because now he knew he needed her more than ever.

,,Ariadne…,” he whispered, his one hand instinctively finding her waist without even having to look at her, the other one burying itself deep into her blood-red hair and pulling her closer to him, so desperately, so possessively, as if he didn’t want to let go of her ever again…

He pressed his face again her neck, inhaling her familiar scent deeply… she hasn’t changed at all. Her body, her hair, her scent, her skin, they were all just as he had remembered them. He knew that tantalizing body so well, he still remembered so vividly how did it feel underneath his own… and now he was desperate, he needed to feel that touch once again, he needed to feel them becoming one once again… he suddenly felt as if his life depended on it, as if she was the air for his lungs, the blood for his veins, the only thing keeping him alive.

He realized he might not have been thinking straight in that moment… however nothing mattered to him anymore. He didn’t even know where were all those intense, raw emotions coming from… but he knew for sure he wouldn’t be able to survive without her for one second more.

His lips caressed her neck tenderly, letting out a shaky breath, his hands pulled her even closer to his, so tightly as if her wanted to close up all the space that still remained between their them, as if he wanted to fill it with their eager bodies that craved each other so desperately after all those years of being apart…

He had always known it was a grave mistake for a man like him to fall in love. And he still remembered the first time when he succumbed to her completely, and it was once and for all. It was their first kiss. And he remembered how he hesitated in that moment… because for some reason he knew without any doubts that if he didn’t resist the temptation of tasting her lips back then, he would for the rest of his days belong to her, forever… but he did it anyway. He let his desires take over him. Without thinking, without any restraints. And this time… something felt exactly the same.

She didn’t even realize how did it happen when she felt their lips against each other, both meeting with equal passion, she didn’t even realize how did it happen when she opened her mouth slightly and let him deepen the kiss even more, her arms around his neck, his hands on around her waist and in her hair, with their knees still touching the ground… but mostly she didn’t even realize how much she needed this. Just a few moments ago she thought she would never want him like this ever again, not after what he’s done to her, but now his touch has caught her completely off guard, making her so vulnerable, so helpless against her own feelings… was it possible she was still in love even after all those years…?

She felt how he pushed his body against her slightly, and not even a single thought of resistance crossed her mind when he laid her down on her back, so gently and carefully, clearly showing his next actions would not be born from any meaningless, shallow lust, but from the true, pure love that still somehow managed to survive inside his heart and was awoken now that they were finally united again. 

,,Ariadne…,” he whispered between the gentle little kisses he was pressing along her jawline and down to her neck, ,,… I’m so sorry… I love you…”

,,Why do you apologize for love…?” she asked quietly, closing her eyes and enjoying the long-forgotten touches of his tender lips against her shoulder, of his fingers against her skin, of every single inch of his body against hers, ,,… isn’t that the only thing that’s worth living for…?”

,,Maybe it is… but I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve love, I don’t deserve to feel it, and I definitely don’t deserve to receive it. Especially not from you…” 

He couldn’t fight against it when during his last words his voice broke a little, the painful emotions he felt before, when thinking about his relationship with his brother, mixing with the even more tormenting ones, the ones of finally fully realizing his guilt from what he’s done centuries ago. He was a monster indeed… what was he even trying to do now? How could he ever touch her in such an intimate way again, did he have no shame? He didn’t deserve this love, he didn’t deserve her…

,,That’s right… you don’t,” she said after a while, making his lips stop kissing her skin immediately, since even though she only repeated his undoubtedly true words, he still couldn’t help but felt a little shocked after hearing them from her, ,,… and I’m not saying that I’m ready to forgive you.”

The sudden coldness that returned to her voice so unexpectedly was a surprise not only to him but to her as well. She was so torn… and she couldn’t decide what was it that she wanted. Was it feeling and Duman’s love and owning his heart once again, or was it punishing him for his unforgivable sin by turning away from him once and for all, letting him live with the tormenting fact that she was still alive, however never to be his again?

,,And I‘m not looking for forgiveness,” he sighed, fighting off the temptation of her body underneath his own, knowing he had no right to do what he wanted to so much, and therefore getting of her abruptly and sitting down on the cold ground, ,,besides, you shouldn’t be here. Why did you even come? We shouldn’t see each other anymore and you know it…”

,,Why not…?” she asked indifferently, her unexpected question taking him aback once again.

,,Because… because I don’t think I will be able to resist you again…”

His voice was quiet and weak, and his golden eyes filled with so much loving adoration mixing with so much intense passion as they fell on her body lying on the cold ground without moving even slightly.

,,And what’s wrong with that…?” she asked as she turned her head suddenly to look at him, her hand touching his forearm and moving up slowly as she sat up and moved closer to him, ,,to me it sounds quite tempting. More than just quite tempting actually…”

She leaned towards his lips, ready to unite them with hers in a kiss they both longed for so much, however her intentions were interrupted by him lightly pressing his fingers against her lips, not allowing her to get any closer. 

,,No, Ariadne. I don’t want this. Just look at us now… this is not us. Our love has never been about blind, mindless lust, it has always been so much more… so because still I value what once used to be between us, and I value it more than anything, I can’t do this. I can’t make love to you when there’s no real love left between us anymore. You have every right to hate me… and I beg you, do it. It will be the easiest way for both of us…”

,,And since when is the easiest way the best?” she asked quietly, laying her hands on his shoulders and looking deep into those eyes of such rare, beautiful color, ,,perhaps there is a way for us to start over… because despite everything, I _want_ to give you a chance. I should hate you, but I can’t. So all that I’m asking for as an exchange for putting the past behind us for good is a promise… an honest one this time. Promise me that I’ll be the one you’ll love the most, that there will be no other person more important to you than me, from this day and for the rest of our lives. Promise me and then prove it to me by leaving with me…”

,,Ariadne… you know I love you but I can’t do that…”

,,Why not?” she snapped at him angrily all of a sudden, standing up from the ground, abruptly and unexpectedly, ,,of course you can! Don’t you have the right to make your own decisions? Or are you just too much of a coward to make them? When will you finally leave him, Duman?! That bastard doesn’t care about you, can’t you see it?! He has a heart made of stone, he’s not capable of love, and I don’t understand why are you still deluding yourself by believing you’re some kind of an exception, the only person who found his way into my brother’s ice-clod heart…”

,,You don’t know what you’re talking about!” he shouted suddenly, interrupting her words because he found himself unable to listen to them anymore, ,,he _does_ care about me! He saved my life, he raised me, he taught me everything he knew about magic himself, he was always by my side for all those years… he… he is my brother…”

,,Your brother?” she scoffed, ,,well, he used to by my brother once as well, long before he became yours. And unfortunately, unlike in your case, we even share the same blood… so trust me, if somebody knows that that bastard doesn’t know _how_ to be a good brother, it’s me. You know how he betrayed me, how he stabbed my in the back, how he sold me to the fate nobody would want to experience, and he did it without even batting an eyelash, he exchanged me for even more power when he had more than enough of it already, without hesitating at all… and you know that I loved him, I loved him more than life itself, he was a part of my soul, and do you remember how did he repay me for this love? Nothing could have stopped him, not even the fact that I was his twin...”

He didn’t know what to say to that. What could he say? She was right. She was so undoubtedly right in every single word she said. But how could he bring himself to finally accept that reality…? 

,,… you asked me why did I cry when you came,” he said quietly, his words flowing out of him almost involuntarily, ,,it was because I realized how much did he break me. How was it his fault that I became like this… just look at me. Look at her,” he said, gesturing to the pale, unconscious body of the fairy covered in blood lying on the wooden table behind them, ,,I enjoy being a monster. And do you know why? Because once I thought that by becoming heartless and cruel, just like him, I would gain his respect and perhaps even make him truly love me as a brother one day… but I was such an idiot to believe it. I gave up everything, I even gave up myself to him…”

,,Exactly… now you’re finally starting to see it, my love,” she said quietly, placing her hand on his cheek and caressing it tenderly, ,,he doesn’t deserve you. He never did. In fact, he doesn’t deserve any person who would truly and honestly love him… because you know it doesn’t mean anything to him. You know all about how he didn’t hesitate to kill our little sister Bianca so that he could gain his magic and power, how he didn’t hesitate to betray me and go against my wishes in a decision that was not his to make… and I never told you this before, I suppose he hasn’t either, since it’s probably nothing he would like to remember… but there is one more person who loved my brother and whom he loved as well, one another person who eventually also paid the price for giving up everything for him…

She knew that if Ogron ever found out she has told Duman, he would kill her on the spot if he had the chance. But of course, she didn’t care. He wanted to kill her for a million different reasons, and besides, she needed to use every single argument she could think of to persuade the man whom she loved more than anything to abandon her brother and finally join her instead. Because that’s how it always should have been, just the two of them and no one else who would stand between them and their love…

,,Who was it?” the shapeshifter asked, the curiosity in his voice mixing with the conflict inside his mind, asking himself whether he truly wanted to know more about the monstrous crimes his brother has committed in his past, that made him feel the guilt even up to this day.

,,Ogron has only truly loved a woman once… only one girl managed to melt the coldness an the ice inside him and made him love her more than anything else in the entire world. It was when I was already convinced that his heart has turned into stone for good, but then he suddenly proved me otherwise… the way he looked at her, the way he treated her, the way how he seemed so different when he was around her, it couldn’t leave me with any doubts about his true, honest affection for her… until one day he decided, just as so many times before, that nothing was going to stand between him and the sheer, limitless power that, at the end of the day, has always been the only thing he truly cared about. And the woman he loved so much, and who loved him so blindly, paid the price for that decision…”

He was quiet for a few seconds, unsure of how to respond to what she just told him and mostly still in shock from what he’s just found out. His brother used to be in love? For some reason even imagining such a possibility seemed completely unrealistic. Yes, he knew that Ogron had no problem with seducing any woman he felt like sharing his bed with for one night, and then abandoning her for good, however the thought of him feeling a deep, meaningful affection, that wasn’t based on lust or purely physical attraction, seemed very far from describing the man he has always known. 

,,When was it?” he asked after a while, his curiosity getting the better of him, ,,when was he in love? Was it a long time ago?”

,,Long before you were even born. Actually, it was while the both of us still lived in Florence… so yes, a very long time ago. And he was still so young, however that doesn’t mean his soul knew any innocence or goodness. And she loved him so much, despite him being the power-hungry, manipulative man he already was, but at the end of the day, her love meant nothing, it only became her doom. Do you see it now…? Don’t waste your love and loyalty on him, Duman, he won’t hesitate to destroy you and stab you in the back one day when your presence won’t be convenient to him anymore… and trust me, should it ever come down to him choosing between you and power, you can be sure he will always choose the second…”

He couldn’t remember when was the last time in his life he felt so torn as right now. What should he do now that he was once again facing the hardest choice he could ever imagine, the choice between his brother, the man who raised him and despite everything was like a father to him in so many ways, and between the only love of his life, the woman he loved more than he loved life itself? 

Perhaps if he went with her now, she would truly forgive him. Wasn’t her forgiveness all that he longed for throughout entire centuries? And what’s more, what she just revealed about Ogron’s past has only proved what he has subconsciously always known, that his brother indeed wasn’t capable of truly loving anyone… 

But how could he leave just like that? Was it possible to leave everything behind and never look back again? Could he finally find happiness and peace if he escaped from his life and pretended the past never existed? Perhaps Ogron was a heartless beast who broke him beyond measure… however he couldn’t deny that despite everything, abandoning him would break his own heart even more. Because he loved him, yes, he truly did. But how can a man decide between his brother and his lover? It was a decision impossible to make and he was still so far from being ready to face it…

,,Ariadne… you must give me more time,” he sighed, turning his gaze away from her, ,,you must understand that I need to think this through…”

,,What is there to think about?” she scoffed, taking a few steps towards him and placing her hands on his shoulders, ,,didn’t you listen to what I was saying at all? Or don’t you believe me? I know Ogron better than anyone… I know better than anyone what he’s capable of. So I beg you… don’t make the same mistake twice. Don’t choose to be loyal to somebody who doesn’t care about you instead of to somebody who would give their life for you…. come with me and I promise I’ll try to find the strength inside me to forgive you completely and let the two of us start again…”

,,Even if I did that, even if I escaped with you,” he scoffed, interrupting her words suddenly, ,,do you think Ogron would just let us leave and live our lives in peace and blissful happiness? You know he would crave revenge, Ariadne, he already craves revenge on you for centuries, since he believes you betrayed him, and now that I would betray him as well… we wouldn’t get far. He would kill us both and we wouldn’t even manage to survive a week. You know that the power he has is unparalleled by any other… he is the most powerful dark wizard to ever live on this planet after all.”

,,And yet you see I managed to survive for centuries even though he wanted me dead… all you need is to know _how_ ,” she said, a confident smile spreading across her lips as her eyes suddenly wandered to the unconscious body of the young pink-haired fairy, ,,and luckily for us both, I have a plan. A plan that could finally destroy that bastard, whom we both used to call our brother, once and for all … all I need is that little fairy you’ve almost tortured to death.”

,,What? Why?” he asked in a shocked voice, taken aback by her unexpected request, ,,what has that girl to do with any of this?”

,,That’s a long story… and we don’t have that much time, at least not now. You’ll have to trust me.”

,,If you want me to give up on the opportunity to finally take the worthless life of that miserable bitch, you’ll need to be much more persuasive than that,” he growled angrily, far from being happy about the fact that she was asking him to give up the satisfaction of feeling the fairy's blood on his hands once he’d finish her off for good, ,,a hunter doesn’t take pity on his prey, unless he has a good reason for it…”

,,You have to spare her life, at least for now, because she has something that’s valuable to us. The only thing that could destroy my brother… the only magic on Earth strong enough to stand a chance against Ogron’s vast, limitless power of darkness… because the magic that she possesses is it’s equal, just as strong, perhaps even more, only the one formed from light and goodness…”

,,Even if it was,” he sighed, his voice completely neutral and unimpressed, ,,it’s not anymore. I took her wings, Ariadne. The girl is without magic… and all of that magic belongs to me now. However I don’t recognize anything special about if… and I’ve taken the powers of many fairies before, so I can tell with certainty that there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about this one. She’s just like any other fairy, except for the fact that she is the last one them, the last one that stood between the Wizards of the Black Circle and the complete control over this world…”

,,And that’s where you’re wrong, my love,” she smiled and took a few steps towards the pale body covered in blood, ,,you only took a part of her magic. Just as you said… the ordinary part, the part that wasn’t any different from any other fairy magic you’ve encountered before. However her true power is still insider her… and it won’t be so easy to steal it from her and gain it for ourselves. It’s the strongest form of the Light Magic after all… the most powerful form of something that neither of us was born with, and also neither of us is innocent and good enough to be allowed to possess…”

,,… I’m not sure if I understand,” he said after a while, confused from finding out about the mysteries of the hidden, powerful magic he had never heard of before in his entire life, all so suddenly and unexpectedly, ,,you say that there truly is a form of magic strong enough to stand a chance against Ogron’s? And that this fairy has it inside her, despite the fact that I already took her wings? But how could that all be possible? I’ve never heard of such magic… and honestly, even the simple though that there could be something powerful enough to destroy Ogron and give us a chance to finally live our lives together sounds too good to be true…”

,,Oh, there are so many things you don’t know about, Duman,” she smiled, placing her hand on his cheek and caressing it tenderly, ,,but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I know this power I’m talking about very well… I was there when it was first born, inside the heart of the one and only truly innocent and good person I’ve ever known, a person who was willing to make a great sacrifice to do what’s right… but that’s a long story.”

,,Why do I have the feeling that the real problem isn’t that the story is long… you’re trying to hide something from me, Ariadne. Don’t lie to me. I know you better than anyone… and whatever it is that you’re hiding, you’ll need to reveal it first. If we are to do this together… _if_ we are to fight together against my brother and if I decide it’s what I want, I’ll first need to know that I can trust you completely. And keeping secrets it not a good way of persuading me to join you…”

,,How can you always see though me so easily…?” she sighed quietly after a while and lowered her head, trying to cover her emotions by a few strands of hair falling into her face, ,,…you’re right. I didn’t tell you everything. But that’s not because I don’t want you to know about it, or because I’m trying to keep some secret from you. It’s just that… you know how much I hate talking or even thinking about the past, about the miserable life I had before I met you… and the story behind that power is one that I myself have influenced, influenced with some decisions I’m not exactly proud about…”

,,Ariadne…,” he said quietly, placing his hands on her waist and pulling her into his arms gently, letting her face rest against chest, ,,whatever you did in your past… I don’t care. Don’t you know that nothing in the entire world can change the way I’m looking at you? You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, and the only woman I ever want to love for the rest of my life. Besides, I’m probably the last person who has the right to judge anyone for doing despicable things… we’re both monsters, my love. That’s why we can understand and accept each other without any judgement. And we may be far from pure, innocent, or good… but our love isn’t. And that’s why you can tell me anything and trust me that it will change nothing about the way I feel about you…”

Oh, how much did she need to hear those exact words… he had no idea. How much she needed to hear that nothing in the entire world could keep them apart… and once again, she felt the comfort of that promise they made to each other so many centuries ago. They were pledged to each other for eternity, married for life and death, and nothing could stand between them anymore. 

She put her arms around his neck slowly and tilted her head upwards, only to find his eager, hot lips already united with hers, meeting them in a kiss so tender, so affectionate, and yet so passionate and full of desire that it left her unable to breath, unable to think… she only wanted him, nothing else, and she wanted him so much…

When they finally broke their kiss, not because they wanted to, but because their lungs were already desperately begging for air, the need behind their eyes when they met almost made them lose all the remaining control over their bodies, almost made them renew their centuries old promise by an even deeper, more meaningful act of love than just one single kiss…

,,Not now, my love…,” she whispered quietly against his lips, still panting heavily from their passionate kiss, ,,it’s too dangerous. Ogron could find us here after all… but we will. I promise we will once the time is right…”

,,That day is the only thing I’ll be living for…” he said quietly, putting all his effort into restraining his body from fulfilling the desires of both of them, trying to focus on what she said, since unfortunately, she was right. They would have to wait… and the waiting would be a pure torture, however after enduring it, one day he would finally make her his again.. however what would be more important than loving her physically would be the fact that he would finally get to feel pure, real love inside his heart after so many centuries again…

,,So can I take it that you’ll go with me…?”

He knew his answer was going to influence everything. Not only his life, but so many others as well. But could he truly betray his brother? Could he truly stab the man, who despite everything did so much for him, in the back so heartlessly? The conflict inside him was worse than any pain he could imagine… however the decision had to be made. She would not wait for his answer forever. 

He realized that if he did it, living with the fact that he destroyed his own brother would haunt him in his worst nightmares for the rest of his days… but at the same time he knew that he could get through it. If she was there by his side, nothing would be impossible, not even burying the last remains of his conscience… because deep inside he knew he would do anything for her. There was no going back from the bond that connected them. He couldn’t live without her love, without her touch, she was just like air to him, the air that he needed so desperately to stay alive… and he was suffocating for long enough. Now he finally refused to torture himself like that anymore…

,,I want to know the story behind the power that could destroy my brother… I want to know everything. And once you show me that you trust me enough by telling me about it, we’ll get that girl’s power and make it ours, so that not even Ogron can stand a chance against us. But more importantly… I’ll be yours. This time without any lies or betrayals, and for the eternity… you have my word.”


	24. The Prison of the Body

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING, PLEASE READ: This chapter contains a very serious mature topic, since it portrays rape and nonconsensual sexual activity. I know this might be a bit of a shock that I've chosen to present such a serious topic in my story, however it's important for for my storyline that I have already planned in my head, so I had to portray this as a part of my story as well. First of all, I would like to apologize to anyone who doesn't feel comfortable with reading such content, since I know that many people may not be. Secondly, I would like to say that I truly do _not_ recommend to anyone under 18 to read this, since I honestly don't think it's a topic for anyone who isn't an adult and who doesn't have a mature point of view on this topic, since as I said already, this theme really is quite dark and serious, even though there aren't any exactly explicit descriptions of rape and it's focused more on the psychological aspect (or at least that's how I've tried to write it), but still, I would say definitely not for minors.
> 
> Anyway, if somebody doesn't feel comfortable with reading this chapter and at the same time doesn't want to miss things from the storyline that were revealed in this chapter, you can feel free to write me a comment and I can sum it up for you so that you don't miss out the story, it's no problem to me :D
> 
> Anyway, once again, that you all sooo much for your support, it means so much to me, I know I keep repeating myself, but I want you all to know that if you left me a Kudos or a comment, or if you simply like my story, I'm truly so grateful for that, all of your support is amazing♥

The moment Roxy woke up, she knew something was different. Her body was still weak and exhausted, even after the much-needed rest, nothing really changed about that, not to even mention that the excruciating, constantly lingering pain, that made her want to believe this was nothing else than a just nightmare, was still there, and was apparently not leaving any time soon. 

However she didn’t even have to open her eyes to figure out that something was not the way it was before she fell unconscious, she felt it, she knew it, she was somehow strangely aware of that fact from the first moment when she woke up, even though she couldn’t quite out her finger on it…

Was it the fact that she was without magic and without her wings now? Perhaps it could be… since the agony of this new reality tormented her much more than any kind of physical pain Duman could ever put her through. 

Duman… when she remembered him and all the things he’s done to her, she wished to fall back into the comforting unconsciousness once again, to fall back into that vast, pleasant darkness for good… she couldn’t let him know she was awake. No, she had to keep pretending, she had to make sure he wouldn’t find out, she had to make sure of it at all costs, since she knew for sure that she would not survive any more pain, her body would eventually give up and it wouldn’t even take much more torture… but she wasn’t ready to die… no, not yet, she couldn’t…

,,You don’t need to keep pretending you’re still unconscious. I know you’re awake.”

The voice she heard made her heart skip a beat, not just from the shock those words caused her, but mostly from the fact that they weren’t said by the person whom she’d expected to hear…

A sudden instinct made her open her eyes abruptly, as if she had to make sure it was truly him, and even though her vision was blurred and unclear at first, she didn’t even need it to be any better to still know for sure who was the man talking to her… and she didn’t know whether his presence made her feel relieved or terrified. Perhaps both at the same time, if that was even possible… 

However suddenly she remembered the last encounter they had. What he wanted from her… and in that moment the fear inside her grew even stronger and more intense as she realized she might be very close to making the worst, most desperate decision of her life… 

,,What… what are you doing here?” she asked, her voice weak and quiet, sounding just as exhausted as she truly was, ,,did you come to finish me off…? I thought Duman wanted to keep that pleasure for himself only… or did you just come to watch my last moments while he would torture me to death …?”

,,That’s not why I’m here, my dear,” she heard him chuckle quietly, and at the same time she realized that even though her vision was slowly improving, for some reason she couldn’t see him anywhere, ,,your guess is not even close to my intentions.”

,,Then why are you here…?”

,,Can’t you figure that out…? I didn’t come to see you suffer, and I definitely didn’t come to see you die. Quite the opposite, actually… I came to offer you a way out of all this. A salvation, you could say. Even though I have to admit, I don’t even understand why am I offering you this chance after what you’ve done…”

,,You couldn’t just have decided to spare me the suffering out of the goodness of your heart,” she scoffed, trying to hide that her heart suddenly began to beat uncomfortably fast and hard, as she was already completely convinced that she knew exactly where was this conversation going and what was he talking about…

And even more importantly… she knew what would the outcome probably turn out to be. She could see it all… and she had a feeling that the decision will be hers to make. But was that really a choice? Could she truly refuse? Was it possible to say no, when the result of such answer would be nothing else than more pain and eventually her cruel, painful, merciless death at the hands of his brother, who was nothing else than a cruel, brutal monster and probably craved her suffering more than anything else…?

,,No, you’re right… giving mercy without gaining anything in return is nothing but weakness. And I think you know how much I hate weakness…”

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on calming her quickened breaths and her rapid heartbeat, even though it seemed simply impossible. There was no way she was wrong… it was all too obvious what he wanted. He wanted it for a long time after all… and now, after making sure she’s so terribly broken that she would submit to any kind of request he’d make just to avoid more pain and suffering, he would finally make his desires come true, he would finally make her succumb…

But she couldn’t allow herself to do that. Not when it came to this, not when she knew what the cost would be if she said yes to what he was going to ask from her any second… but to suffer even more? No, no, she couldn’t allow that, she would do anything to avoid more pain and blood… so how should she decide? How could she even decide? Was there a right way, was there a right decision when both options she had were almost equally cruel, merciless and agonizing? 

However deep inside she knew the answer. She knew her choice. Maybe she didn’t want to admit it just yet, but it didn’t matter… nothing mattered anymore as inside she already became nothing more than a weak coward, a broken, scared little girl who would agree to do anything, who would agree to give up without putting up any kind of fight…

,,What do you want from me…?”

Her eyes were closed and she could feel a few tears rolling down her cheeks as she said those words, her weak, shaky voice suddenly breaking from all the fear and all the weakness before she managed to say anything more. 

,,Do you really need to ask that…?” he asked quietly and before she could answer she suddenly felt two hands gently laying themselves on her shoulders from behind, the gesture so unexpectedly tender that it left her completely taken aback, unable to move, unable to think, or to say anything. 

And when he took a few steps from behind her and ended up by her side, finally making her see him, he even put a few strands of her hair behind her ear with his light, soft fingers, and suddenly she couldn’t help but wished for his touch to linger there for at least a few moments longer. There was something so comforting about his warm skin against her face covered in blood and tears… however she knew that this is nothing else than one of his manipulative, shameless tricks, all just to make her even weaker. Little did he know it was already impossible to make her even more submissive to anything he would want from her… his brother took care of that in much less gentle ways, so he didn’t even have to try…

,,However the decision is yours,” he said in a soft voice, squatting down next to the table she was still lying on with her wrists and ankles still bound to it, ,,I’m not going to force you into this… but know that this is your only change to escape a fate that’s positively worse than death. I doubt that my brother is done with you already, he sure won’t be until he takes your life, and until then… he will make you suffer so much you’ll beg for death. You think he already caused you so much pain it’s not possible to experience anything worse? Don’t have such foolish hopes, little fairy. My brother can do more, and he can make it much crueler and more agonizing, because when it comes to torture, he has no boundaries, no mercy…”

,,I’ll do it!” 

When she heard her desperate voice interrupting his words, she could barely believe that the voice belonged to her. It felt as if somebody else has made that decision for her. And she knew exactly who that was. Her fear. Her terrible, torturous, animalistic fear. An instinct. How could she refuse? He was offering her a way out of this suffering, and even though she had no doubts that the dirty act he wanted to use her body for would be just as tormenting as it would be humiliating, it would still be nothing compared to what his brother would put her through if she refused. Of course, she didn’t know whether he would keep his word and protect her from Duman, and she didn’t even dare to hope that he would decide to spare her life just because she let him take her body for a few moments of sinful pleasure. 

But to avoid more of this inhuman torture that monstrous beast would for sure put her through… she would do anything for it. She has decided. Maybe she was weak, maybe she let them break her too easily, maybe she was just a coward, but what did it matter at this point? Yes, she decided to trade her innocence, to sell her dignity, to become so… dirty in her own eyes for the rest of her life, but could anyone truly judge her for her choice? Could she judge herself…?

However her thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly felt his lips against hers… and somehow those lustful, possessive, heated lips of his made her involuntarily return his forceful kiss, a kiss so shallow, so empty, a kiss that was nothing else than a raw, unrestrained expression of his lust and desire. Oh, what a fool she was that she has awoken that desire inside him… but it was too late to cry now, there was no going back. 

_,,You reap what you sow… this is all my fault…and I would love to be able to hate him for this, but in fact, I can only hate myself…”_

When he finally broke their kiss, they were both gasping for air and her heart was beating so fast that she felt as if it was going to jump out of her chest any moment. She feared what was going to come so much… of course she feared it. No girl would like to experience the physical essence of love for the first time under such circumstances… and with a man with whom she shared nothing at all that would even closely resemble any kind of affection, let alone love.

She suddenly realized that the bonds around her ankles and wrists were gone. She tried to sit up slowly, letting out a few quiet groans of pain and when she finally managed to finish that simple movement that, however, still caused her so much discomfort, she immediately put her arms around herself, hesitating for a few seconds before grabbing her T-shirt and starting to take it off, forcing her mind not to think about her actions at all. All she needed to do was to not think…

However she didn’t even manage to finish what she started, since she suddenly felt his warm hand around her wrist, unexpectedly preventing her from revealing her vulnerable, uncovered body. 

,,What is it…?” she asked quietly, without showing how surprised his gesture has made her and without even looking at him.

,,I might be heartless and cruel, but I’m not going to make you sleep with me in a dark room where my brother almost tortured you to death, and what’s more, with your body in so much pain you can barely sit up.”

,,Just do it,” she sighed after a while, still unable to turn her eyes into his direction, ,,I don’t care. Make it as fast as possible, it’s not like this matters to either of us. It’s not like you’ll be making love to a girl who has a choice…”

Her last words were bitter and cynical, and she used that bitterness and anger inside her to prevent her eyes from letting out the tears that already wanted to roll down her face to offer her at least a small relief from all this pain and humiliation… however that was exactly the reason why she couldn’t allow him to see her this weak, she was already humiliated enough and she truly didn’t need to lose her dignity in more ways than just one. 

He didn’t answer, instead of that he did something she definitely didn’t expect him to do. After a few moments, she started feeling a surprisingly pleasant sensation on her skin coming from the place where his fingers were still closed around her fragile wrist. She didn’t know what was it, she didn’t understand what was happening at all, however she didn’t try to protest or jerk away, since whatever kind of magic it was that he was using on her, it seemed like it was truly… healing her. Slowly but surely, the feeling of an unexpected physical relief spread across her entire body, the strange, unknown magic taking care of her every wound, making all the pain and blood go away as if it was never there. 

After he finished, he let go of her hand and she hesitantly lifted her gaze, meeting his eyes for the first time since the moment that seemed like ages ago, the moment when the she stabbed him with a dagger in his room, on his own bed. And she was more than surprised to find something in them that she definitely didn’t expect to see at all, it seemed like a small, almost imperceptible flicker of… gentleness, or sympathy perhaps. The last thing she though would ever appear in those cold, ice-like eyes. 

However, that was only for a split second. Because just a moment later all of that was gone, replaced by the same intense, unrestrained lust that she already saw so many times... 

Suddenly his hand was around her waist, pulling her body against his chest, while his other hand grabbed her chin and a moment later his lips were united with hers again, passionate, wild and forceful. She didn’t resist. 

She even let him deepen the kiss by opening her mouth slightly, knowing that at this point any resistance would be completely useless and futile, and since she was still sitting on the wooden table and her legs could easily wrap themselves around his waist when he pulled her against him, she did that as well, wanting him to take her as soon as possible and then leave her with nothing else than a painful, humiliating memory, a wound that would never heal. The only thing she wanted was for it to be done quickly… nothing else.

She expected him to lay her on the table and take her innocence right on the spot, however surprisingly enough that didn’t happen, instead he lifted her entire body up, as easily as if she weighted no more than a feather, without parting their lips even for a second, and the next thing she realized was that he was carrying her away.

His lips against her own, against her neck and against the skin of her shoulders kept her mind and all her senses clouded with involuntary pleasure so much that she didn’t even notice when did it happen as her back suddenly hit something soft, the sheets around her and the bed she was somehow already lying on more than familiar. 

,,You didn’t… need to bring me… to your bed,” she said sarcastically between her heavy breaths when he finally broke their kiss, ,,this will be a suffering anyway… a soft, comfortable bed could hardly make it any more bearable… you should have taken me there and get this over with as fast as possible.”

,,Oh, but I don’t want to… get this over with as fast as possible…,” he said, panting for air as well, his hand slowly moving up her abdomen until it reached her chest, making her close her eyes while her while body froze immediately from the unwanted, nonconsensual touch, ,,you kept tantalizing me for long enough… now I’m finally going to make each and every desire you’ve awoken inside me come true. Tell me, Roxy… is this going to be your first time?”

She had to put an almost unbearable amount of effort into preventing the tears, that were still lingering somewhere in the corners of her eyes, from falling and rolling down her cheeks at that moment.

_,,Just answer him. You don’t need to think about it…”_

,,Yes,” she whispered quietly after a while, turning her head away slightly, since she couldn’t stand the idea of looking into his eyes while saying those words, the anger filling her with so much torturously intense hatred and contempt, ,,yes, it is.”

However, at the same time her words didn’t sound angry at all. No, instead of sounding defiant and indignant, which would allow her to keep at least the last bits of her pride and dignity, she sounded like a scared, weak little girl, her voice trembling so vulnerably as she said those words. First, she wanted feel anger towards herself for not being able to control herself enough to not let him see how scared she was, however not even a second later she realized it actually didn’t matter at all. He had all the power over her now, what could any pride or defiance on her part change? Absolutely nothing. Maybe just make things even worse.

She didn’t want to look at him, but suddenly she felt his fingers catching her chin, turning her face back, however not in a rough or unpleasant way, but so tenderly and gently it left her so taken aback once again that she didn’t even resist.

,,I promise I won’t hurt you. If this is your first time, I’ll be as gentle as I can be…”

,,Oh, please, don’t bother!” she spat sarcastically, jerking her head away sharply so that she got rid of his touch, ,,as if it matter whether you’ll… whether you’ll _rape_ me in a gentle or a rough way… do whatever you want, you bastard, I will never be truly belong to you anyway!” 

,,I gave you a choice. It was you who decided this way…”

,,Oh, so that’s why you think it’s not what I called it?” she scoffed, ,,yes, you’re right, you gave me a choice, and oh how wonderfully merciful it was from you… letting me decide whether I’d rather be tortured to death or allow you to force yourself upon me! Yes, I chose this, but you must know yourself that what you’ll do to me now will be no less of a rape than it would be if back then if I didn’t stab you in the stomach right here on this bed… now I have no way to protect myself. I don’t even have my magic… so do it, please, do it now, let’s not talk anymore, I just want to get this over with…”

The way the raging anger and indignation in her voice slowly turned into a tone of such broken weakness made him feel something he truly didn’t expect to. Was it… pity? Was it compassion? Or hesitance? Perhaps all at the same time… but none of that truly mattered. Little did she know the true reason why he was doing this. Little did she know the true reason why she was the only one with whom he could and wanted to do this…

Throughout all those centuries he had made love to countless different women. So many nights of blind, meaningless lust, so many young, beautiful bodies surrendering themselves to him willingly, bodies of girls whose names he didn’t even know and had no interest in getting to know at all… all those nights, all those bodies serving one purpose. One sole purpose. 

To find somebody who would feel like _her_. Like the girl who had taken his heart so many years ago, who made it belong to her without any mercy, who showed him how weak and vulnerable he truly was, who destroyed his pride, who made him fall on his knees and worship her beauty, her purity, her kindness, and everything she was. 

So many centuries ago, she was his and his only. However, it was just for three years. For three years only she was there by his side and embodied every single joy and pleasure he had in his life. However, he had a way of destroying beautiful things as pleasure, joy, and love back then, any destroying himself alongside with them. And that’s how just three years, such ridiculously short, evanescent three years became nothing more than memory to torment him for the rest of his life, a memory to haunt him in his worst nightmares during the darkest, longest, loneliest nights of his life. Oh, those merciless, sweet nightmares almost made him go insane so many times, when he heard her voice, looked into her eyes, kissed her lips, made love to her in his sleep, just to wake up in the middle of a dark night and find out none of that was real…

His past was driving him insane. _She_ was. But even if he lost his sanity one day, it wouldn’t be something he didn’t deserve. Because he had no one else to blame for losing her than himself. But slowly going insane for centuries was making him desperate. It made him believe he would be able to relive the past if he wanted it bad enough… and that was the reason for sharing his bed with so many different women he didn’t even care about at all. But the truth was none of them could ever satisfy him. Because none of them were _her_ , none of them even resembled her, not in the slightest way. He could close his eyes and pretend he was making love to the only girl he ever loved, however that never worked, he couldn’t fool the reality, no matter how hard he tried.

Until one day… until one day he met a young fairy with tantalizing lavender eyes, long rosy hair and soft pale skin, until one day he united their lips for the first time and that kiss struck him just as intensely as a lightning. Because in that moment he suddenly knew. He knew he found the girl who was just like _her_ … and he had no idea what was it that made the young pink-haired fairy feel like the only love of his life, he didn’t understand how was it possible that when he closed his eyes during their kiss it suddenly felt as if he was touching and holding _her_ , he couldn’t figure out at all on what made them so similar… but that didn’t matter.

From that moment he knew he was going to make her his, make love to her to find out whether he could relive his past with the help of her vulnerable body underneath his own, that insane need clouding his mind day and night, making it almost impossible to hide it all from his brothers.

He has never made love to a girl against her will in his entire life. There were some lines even he would never allow himself to cross. Until now. Because nothing else mattered more than feeling _her_ again, being _hers_ again, grasping at what he lost so many years ago and holding it so tightly that he would never lose it again…

He didn’t even know exactly how did it happen when he found both of them without clothes, her body underneath his, his hands holding her wrists tightly above her head, and all he could feel was the immediate pleasure of that sinful, despicable act when he united their bodies, forgetting about his promise to be gentle in the blindness of his wild lust completely. He knew he was hurting her when he heard her moans of pain, when he tasted her tears that rolled down her face and wetted their untiled lips, he knew that what he was doing was twisted and despicable even in his own eyes, however he had no intention of stopping. No, he actually wanted more…

She was aware of the fact that a girl’s first time can be painful for her. However at the same time she always believed that the first night she would spend with a man would be more than just that, that it would mean something, that the love between them would make her forget about the discomfort completely and focus just on the pleasure, focus on the fact that they’re together and that she was getting to experience their true, pure, beautiful love in a completely new way.

However, this was as far from what she imagined as possible. What he was doing to her shattered all of her naive childish dreams about the first night, it killed all the innocence inside her, tore apart all of her foolish fantasies about true love and made her see the harsh reality in such a painful, tormenting way that she knew something inside her broke for good while she was experiencing the feeling of his body inside hers, trying so desperately to deal with what he was doing to her.

_,,What foolish idiots do even believe in love? This is all that it’s about. No tender feelings, no genuine affection, not even respect for each other, nothing good, nothing pleasurable, nothing beautiful… do we truly have bodies just to make them slaves to our lust? To turn ourselves into animals unable to control themselves when they feel the opportunity to get some pleasure and immediately jump into it blindly, without looking at the consequences at all, without thinking about ourselves and most definitely without thinking about the other person, who means nothing more to us than a thing, an object to use for our own satisfaction? If this is what sex is about… oh, God, please, don’t ever make me go through this hell again! I will hold on for now, just a few more moments, I’ll let him have everything he wants, but then, I’m making this promise to myself, then I’ll rather kill any man than let him touch me… and after this, I’m sure that don’t ever want to feel love in my life. I don’t ever want to fall in love with a man if this…if this torture is what it leads to…_

_However, that’s not even everything. That’s not even the worst thing about all of this. Because what’s worse than the pain is… is the pleasure. No, no, no why is my body doing this to me?! I don’t want to enjoy that monster hurting me, that’s twisted, that’s just wrong… please, make it stop…!”_

When he closed his eyes he felt that it suddenly finally happened. He felt her… he could imagine her as if she was right there, as if the body underneath belonged to her, as if it were her lips against his, her skin touching his and as if what he was doing wasn’t a shameless act against the will of an innocent girl, but an act of true, pure love…

_Perhaps he could relive one of all those sleepless nights that they’ve spent together once again, feel it as if it was happening right now… in his imagination the long, rosy-pink hair suddenly turned into beautiful, golden waves and he buried his hands inside them immediately, feeling their familiar softness against his fingers. And in his head the eyes of the girl he was making love to weren’t lavender anymore, but they turned into the innocent color of a cloudless summer sky, so bright and pure, and the way they looked into his… he knew she adored him and he felt the exact same way about her. Their love was perfect and flawless, all he ever lived for…_

_,,Ogron…,” he heard her quiet whisper, ,,I love you so much…”_

_,,I love you too…”_

_He kept making love to her until the whole world around him became just a blur, until everything around him disappeared and that entire world of his became her, only her… and he knew how much pleasure he was giving her, but this was not just about the pleasure… what they felt was real. No more empty, sinful lust… this was love, real love at its best._

_Her name escaped his lips once, twice, and perhaps even many more times. He wished for this moment to never end… they were finally together, after so many years, and if he knew one thing for sure, it was that he was never going to let her go again. How was it even possible that she felt so… real? That it felt as if she was truly there? Not that it really mattered. All he needed was to have her, to be united with her, it didn’t matter if it was just a lie, especially when it all felt so incredibly real…_

_However, nothing can last forever, especially not the most beautiful, most pleasurable moments in life. And so this one didn’t either… and as the delirious ecstasy that intoxicated his entire world slowly started to become less and less intense, as that sweet poison in his veins began to disappear so mercilessly, she started fading away as well, the shimmering illusion of her body suddenly getting paler and paler by each second, slipping away from his touch inevitably despite the fact that he begged her to stay, until it was all gone for good…_

He suddenly realized that all he could hear were his own heavy breaths, all he could feel was a body of a young girl underneath his own, but it wasn’t hers anymore… his vision was blurred since his eyes were full of tears that kept rolling down his face, however he didn’t even know whether they were the tears of pleasure from before or the ones of pain, of so much pain he felt after loosing her once again…

Meanwhile her feelings weren’t similar to his even in the slightest. When he finally ended his torture and let her body be, falling on his back by her side and panting heavily with closed eyes and tears rolling down his face, she suddenly realized that her face was covered in tears as well, however now they were gradually turning from the tears of pain to the tears of relief. 

It was over… it was finally truly over… for now at least. She begged inside her head that he wouldn’t want to continue this after a while, she begged so desperately, since she knew for sure she wouldn’t be able to keep doing this, she would do anything to avoid experiencing that torment once again… 

Because in that moment it felt even worse than what Duman had been doing to her, despite the fact that she would never have imagined before that something could be more agonizing than the shapeshifter’s torture, however the reality turned out to be so much harsher than she expected. And the reason why what he’s done to her was such an agony wasn’t even because of the burning pain between her legs that still didn’t get any less intense, or the dull, yet still uncomfortable pain on her wrists that the tight grip of his hands left there, the main reason for that agony was what his act has done to her mind, to her soul… 

How could she live with herself after this? How could she look at herself in the mirror ever again after voluntarily letting him take away every single bit of her dignity and purity? He humiliated her beyond measure, took her body and made it belong to him, he made a part of her belong to him for good… and what right did he have to do that? What right did to have to treat her like a thing, an object for his pleasure, like something he could mould according to his will and turn it into what he wanted it to be? She was her own person, she didn’t belong to him… and yet he made her feel like she did. Because when he was taking her against her will, she didn’t fight at all, she let him do whatever he wanted to and she did nothing to stop him… and now she was so disgusted with herself because of that. She hated herself for that. She despised herself, she felt like she couldn’t even respect herself anymore…

This was all her fault anyway. Yes, playing with fire was exciting, so tempting and irresistible for a while… until that fire trapped her, made her scared and helpless, and left her with a bad burn that was not going to heal for the rest of her life…

When he opened his eyes after a while his gaze immediately felt on the girl next to him and what he saw… what he saw suddenly shook his soul, suddenly made him feel so much regret, despite the fact that he didn’t want to… however only now did that sight make him realize what he’s done…

Her whole fragile frame was shaking with quiet sobs, her chest rising and falling rapidly with shaky, shallow breaths, one of her hands covering her face and her other one between her closed tights, holding the part of her body where he entered her, clearly showing she was in so much pain and instinctively tried to make it less intense… 

_,,Oh, God… what have I done…? I know that I have no reason to care about her… but am I truly such a monster who would do this? She looks like she suffers so much… and I am the one who caused it. She looks so helpless, so fragile, so broken… why do I feel like want to take her in my arms and take all of that pain away? What a ridiculous thought after what I’ve just done to her… I bet she’d rather die than get comfort from me. I got so much pleasure from what I did to her, I overdosed on the ecstasy her body was giving me, but I used her, I hurt her, I broke her, I… I truly raped her. And I imagined she was the one I love, the only girl I ever loved in my life, but what would she have said if she saw what I did to an innocent girl to make myself believe I was with her? What would she have said if she saw what I’ve done just because I can’t deal with the fact that the past is in the past…?_

_Oh, come on, and what? Why do I even feel these ridiculous regrets? I’ve done worse things than that, much worse… if I had enough darkness in my heart to destroy the one that I loved, what is taking the innocence of this girl compared to that…? I got what I wanted. I got pleasure and I relived the love that I wasn’t able to relive for centuries, who cares if it was at the expense of her pain? Yes, I am a monster. A monster who would do this. A monster who is desperate to feel love again, a monster who would to anything for it. Who will do anything for it. She belongs to me now. Her body is mine and she will give me all I need to see and feel my love whenever I’ll want to… she’ll have to, I’ll give her no choice…”_

,,No!” she shouted desperately all of a sudden when he grabbed her by shoulders and trapped her body underneath his once again, seizing her knees after and pushing her legs apart forcefully, while pressing his heated, lustful lips on her mouth once again, silencing any further protests that would otherwise undoubtedly escape her lips.

However, this time she refused to go down without a fight. And so even though each movement she made caused her such unpleasant, intense pain between her legs and tights, she still fought as fiercely and desperately as she could, trying to do anything to push his body off hers and not allow him to force himself upon her once again. 

However, all of her attempts, no matter how passionate and determined, turned out to be completely futile in lees than just a few seconds, since he quickly grabbed her wrists once again, making it completely impossible for her to escape. She wasn’t even surprised that it ended that way, it wasn’t like she actually stood any chance against him, however now after he’d take her again, she could at least keep telling herself that she _tried_ to resist, if nothing else…

What did surprise her, however, was that even though she already shut her eyes tightly and expected to experience the strange, twisted sensation of intense pain intertwining with just as intense pleasure once again, she somehow didn’t feel anything. She opened her eyes abruptly and they met his immediately, and what she saw inside them took her aback even more. Did he… hesitate? Could there truly be a bright, small spark of conscience inside that dark, selfish soul…?

,,Really? Now you hesitate?” she scoffed sarcastically, ,,just to it, you bastard, do it now, do it after that again, keep doing it until you’ve had enough for all I care, torture me now, but leave me alone for the rest of my life! I’ll let you do whatever you want now, but if you’ll ever try to touch me again, I’ll kill you, mark my words you son of a bitch, I’ll kill you before you’ll ever touch me again!”

,,You would not kill me,” he said, however without any mockery or sarcasm behind his words, his voice almost strangely calm and neutral, ,,you don’t have that in you.”

,,Oh, please, what do _you_ know about me…?”

,,Maybe I don’t know you. But I don’t even want to. I don’t need to know who you are, I don’t need to see inside your heart and soul, I don’t care about you that much. I don’t care you at all, actually. But your body… your body will belong to me. Only to me…”

She felt the tears of humiliation clouding her vision all of a sudden, and she hated her eyes for showing him how weak and defeated she felt… there was a raging storm inside her, a flaming ager that was driving her insane, that would sure make her kill him right on the spot if she had the chance. How dared he keep humiliating her like that? Oh, she would make him pay, she would make him pay one day, one day it will be him who will be weak and humiliated, on his knees in front of her, begging her for his life…

,,I will never be yours…”

,,I’ve already made you mine. So you are already…”

,,The fact that you raped me once doesn’t make me your _whore_ for the rest of my life!” she shouted furiously and tried to release her anger by fighting against his the grip of his hands, which, however, only made it stronger.

,,Oh, you little fool,” he chuckled and suddenly all the small flickers of conscience in his eyes were gone as if they were never there, his gaze filled with desire and heartlessness once again as he lowered his head to press his lips against her neck passionately, ,,do you still not understand that this is not your choice? I need you… more than you’ll ever know. For a reason you’ll never know. You have something no other girl or woman has… and that’s why I can’t and I won’t ever let you go…”

She felt his body moving closer and she knew already what was going to come… and in that moment she knew she couldn’t allow it to happen again. She would do anything to stop him… and then an idea suddenly struck her… if something could save her now it was this one question, the one she was curious to know the answer to anyway, the question she was thinking about throughout the whole time when he was taking her innocence…

,,If I’m so special for some reason as you say,” she said quickly, obeying her instincts mindlessly, since she had no time to think about her words, ,,then who is Lavinia…?”

It was as if her words were a spell that managed to turn him into stone, making him stop in his previous actions immediately and look at her, shock and disbelief clearly written all over his face and his already pale skin seemingly turning completely white.

However, it didn’t last long until that shocked bewilderment in his eyes turned into raw anger, and she suddenly found herself exclaiming in pain when the grip of his hands around her wrists unexpectedly became so strong it felt like he was going to crush her fragile bones any second. 

,,Where did you hear that name?!” he shouted angrily, completely unable to control his emotions.

And just a few seconds later she exclaimed in pain once again after she felt that despite all of her attempts to avoid it, he suddenly entered her forcefully once again, clearly trying to release all of his unexplainable rage on her helpless, vulnerable body.

,,What do you know about her…?!”

,,Stop it! You’re hurting me…!”

,,Answer me first!”

,,I don’t know anything about her, for goodness sake!” she shouted, while the pain that the weight of his body on hers and inside hers was causing made her want to say anything to make him stop, ,,it was you who kept saying her name while screwing me, you bastard…!”

And once again, it felt as if her words turned him into stone immediately, and even though his body wanted him to continue, he didn’t. He heard her sigh of relief when he let her be, however he didn’t do it for her. Suddenly it was all just… too much. The strange mixture of his raw, untamed emotions made him feel so strangely empty, so confused and so hurt at the same time… he couldn’t continue doing this. 

When he heard her saying that name… something inside him broke. He felt as if he had almost forgotten how that name sounded coming out of someone’s mouth and now that he heard it again… for some reason all he felt was regret. Such intense, tormenting regret… he, a man with no conscience and a heart made of stone suddenly felt as if his guilt was making him as weak as a helpless little child…

_,,I hurt them both so much… Roxy and Lavinia as well. How come that both the people I don’t care about at all and the people who I love more than anything it the world either get hurt or die? I’ll never forgive myself for what I’ve done to the only woman I’ve ever loved… and strangely enough, that even somehow makes me feel bad about what I’ve done to this girl, that I’ve only used for her body. It’s like I can’t give people anything else than suffering, death and destruction… but I guess I chose that path many years ago. And even if I could easily live with destroying people that I hate or simply don’t care about, how can I live with the fact that I kept hurting the ones that I truly love? It wasn’t just Lavinia and that monstrous thing did to her… I guess that it has also been my brothers for all those years. I didn’t treat them the way they deserved to be… especially Duman. How can he know that I actually care for him more than for anyone else, after I only kept making him believe that he means nothing to me? Why does my love and affection have to be like poison to anyone who loves me back…?”_

,,Go,” he said quietly all of a sudden, getting off her body and sitting up on the edge of his bed, wanting her to get out as fast as possible before he would get lost in those strange regrets completely.

,,Are you… are you letting me go?” she asked, almost gasping from shock and disbelief.

,,For now. But you won’t leave this house, not until I decide what do I want to do with you. I think you’re not such a fool that you would try to escape… so don’t even think about it, for your own sake.”

She didn’t need to hear anything else, she got up from the bed as fast as possible, even in spite of the pain, and almost run out of the room mindlessly, careless and not even completely aware of the fact that she was still naked. But even if she was, she probably wouldn’t care at all anyway, nothing could stop her from leaving that horrid place where she lost a part of herself to that cruel bastard whom she now hated more than anyone else in the world. 

And when she finally closed the door behind her, she suddenly found herself running, she was running down some stairs and then through a long corridor, she had no idea where, but she didn’t even need to know that for the moment. The only important thing was the she could run away from him, that she could escape his touch, his lips, the feeling of his body on hers, the memory of him making her so vulnerable, so helpless and so humiliated… but could she truly? Could she truly ever escape what he’s done to her…? 

Suddenly her leg hit something in the middle of her desperate run, making her fall down on the ground immediately and let out a groan of pain that was followed by tears just a few moments later. However, they were not the tears of physical pain… they were the tears caused by all her messed up emotions and her numb, broken soul. 

She suddenly realized she was suffocating, she was trapped and there was no way out of this, there was no one who could help her, not even somebody whom she could tell all about the suffering she went through… how could she tell anyone? Wasn’t it enough that _she_ despised herself and that _she_ lost all the respect she had for herself completely, how could she tell anyone what happened, what would her father say, what would her friends say, the ones who have been there for her and fought to protect her from the exact same man to whom she just lost her innocence just because of her own recklessness? She was alone in this… now and for the rest of her life. She wouldn’t tell a single soul, she knew that for sure…

However even if she took this dark secret to her grave, would it truly help anything? Would it help her deal with the deep, painful scar on her soul, could she ever find any relief and maybe even forget, one day…? No, of course she couldn’t… who was she trying to fool… there was not hope for her. 

All she heard were her loud, intense sobs that kept shaking her entire tiny, vulnerable frame, however they brought her no solace at all. She felt so weak, so helpless, she felt as if she was a bird trapped in its cage, beating its wings desperately to get out, but how could she escape when the cage was her own body? She still felt his touch so vividly as if his heated skin was still there against hers, his lips on hers, and the intense physical pain she felt between her legs kept reminding her of how his body felt inside hers… and that incessant, constantly returning memory was chasing away every last bit of her sanity. Now he would always be a part of her…

… and he would make her a prisoner of her own body and her own mind to the end of her days.


	25. Snakes and Puppets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE READ: Hi guys! So, right at the beginning, I would like to apologize that this chapter took so freaking long to upload, I mean maaaan, literally took me an entire month, I'm really so sorry that I kept you waiting for so long :( But that's all because this chapter is the longest one I've written so far, and since I know that super long chapters may not be extremely enjoyable for many readers, I apologize for that too in case you are one of those readers (I don't like reading long chapters either, but somehow I always end up writing them, lol XD).
> 
> Anyway, let's get to the point, this chapter actually ended up being so extensive because I decided I will write a few more chapters about Ogron's past and this is one of them, and since I don't want to write too much of them, but at the same time I want to show everything important that happened during his past, I needed to make this one quite long. 
> 
> Perhaps the things that I portrayed in here may seem a bit random at this point and you might be asking why I decided to write about them at all, however all of them have a context and I thought it was important to write about them to actually help you, the readers, understand Ogron's character (or how I've made up that character for him in my fanfic), and that's because his past is the source of all his motives and desires, which are then reflected in his present. And one more reason is that, tbh, I already made up a quite complex and complicated backstory for him in my head, idk why, those ideas just kept coming and coming and coming, and so I felt an extremely intense need to actually write them down XD
> 
> And I also thought that since in my story all of the wizards are from Earth, it would make sense to give a proper historical context to the past of at least one of them, since all of them are centuries old and probably must have lived through a lot and must have seen and been a part of some things, that truly happened in the past. I know, I know, maybe I'm overdoing it, but idk, I just enjoy writing my story this way XD. Anyway, I'm definitely not saying that I'm some kind of an expert when it comes to history, some things might not even be completely correct from that point of view (I actually messed up some historical facts for the sake of this story a little bit to be honest XD), but this is just a fiction, so as I said in chapter 22, take it with a grain of salt, please, lol :D And one another thing, since as I already mentioned, Ogron's backstory is taking place in Italy, I thought I would make it a little bit more authentic by the use of the Italian language (but really just a little bit, since I actually don't speak a word of Italian XD), so I'm going to put the translation of the words I used right here, _Signore_ should mean ,,my lord" and _Madonna_ ,,my lady".
> 
> However, I'm saying this openly, this chapter is simply a result of me letting my imagination run free and has actually nothing to do with the original Winx Club series, so I'm saying this just so that you can count with it before you start reading :D
> 
> Okay, enough of this already, I hope you'll enjoy the chapter, feel free to leave me a comment, and once again, thank you for all your support, it truly keeps me extremely motivated and I'm really grateful for it :D
> 
> Oh, and since Christmas is coming soon... Merry Christmas, everyone ♥

The grand, spacious room illuminated by the dim, yet pleasant soft warm light of candles was filled with the sound of many different intertwining voices, of informal, light-hearted conversations and hearty laughter that blended with the joyful music, the scent of delicious food and the beautiful colorful clothes of both women and men coming together to enjoy themselves and leave the cold dark winter night behind the door of this impressively luxurious household.

The atmosphere was undoubtedly welcoming and pleasant, so cheerful that any stranger, who would have walked inside the room without knowing anything about the people in it, would definitely have thought that this was an enjoyable occasion, an occasion when people who truly cared for each, other or at least truly liked each other’s company, met with no different intention than to spend some time together and share a pleasant, informal dinner. 

However, the actual reality couldn’t have been further from that blissful image. Because the truth was, that all of these people only painted a picture of happiness with the color of lies, they were actors who played their roles, carefully considering each word, each laughter, each small gesture, they were all playing a dangerous game of pretense and dishonesty, trying to see though their opponents and discover any weakness they could possibly have, trying to see inside each other’s head, all having the same ultimate goal that haven’t changed for centuries and was not going to change for centuries in the future either. It was all a game of power.

And he was well aware of that. He knew it and he was not going to let his guard down, not even for a single second, he was not going to let his senses be tantalized by the pleasures of the music, dance, food and wine, he was not fooled by the obvious pretense of people around him, by their fake smiles and their sweet words dripping with poison. This informal dinner was no less of a business, no less of a an intricate game of political machinations than their meetings it the Council of Florence, in which now, after his father’s death, he has officially taken his place and became its youngest, yet most ambitious, and probably also most dangerous and ruthless member. 

Which is why there has always been one thing which never ceased to surprise him. How was it possible that all those men who played these games of politics and power for so many years were so easily outsmarted, so easily fooled and deceived? They sure knew what to expect from their opponents, they knew what to expect from each other, since all of them were secretly plotting against one another and there were no real allies in this subtle, hidden war. However, they didn’t know what to expect from him. Not a single one of them. 

And he knew that this was exactly his biggest advantage. His ability to play them, to manipulate them, to make them act exactly in a way he wanted to, without them having any idea about it, to make them his puppets and outsmart them in every single move, while still making them believe that they were in charge and everything was going according to their plan, meanwhile the real power over this city has fallen into his hands, slowly but surely, without them even realizing how did it happen. Yes, he might have gained dark magic, darker and stronger than any other, however not even that could ever rival his only truly strongest weapon, which was nothing else than his head and his sharp mind.

So this evening was not going to be any exception, he knew exactly what he had to do, whom to deceive by sweet words, whom to stab in the back in secret, which alliance to break and which one to form, whose mind to poison by lies and whose by doubts, he knew all of his moves and could already see all the moves of his opponents, as if all of this was merely a game of chess. And he knew he was going to win. There was truly no match for him among all those weak, pathetic, easily deceivable fools.

He always knew he liked how power felt. However now, after he became truly powerful, it was not just something he liked to have and experience, now it became a wild, raw, untamed desire, it became the thing that kept him alive and the thing he couldn’t stop wanting more and more each day, it became the purpose and the only desire of his life. He knew he was not the man he once used to be anymore, and a part of him wasn’t even quite sure whether he truly liked that fact, however that part of him, that long forgotten voice he once used to know as his conscience, was always silenced by new arising opportunities, by new ways to extend his influence and power, even though in reality the entire city of Florence has already fallen at his feet, belonging to him and to him only. All in spite of the fact that it has officially been a republic. In truth, however, it was no more of a republic than any other kingdom ruled no more than one man, and the rule of the people was nothing but a shimmering ideal that not even a single soul was foolish enough to believe in anymore. 

It took three years to achieve his goal of making Florence fall into his hands, three years had passed since the day when he decided what kind of a man he wanted to be as he took the life of his beloved little sister, as turned her innocent blue eyes and her sweet childish voice into no more than a tormenting memory… and even though many things have changed from that day, his regret, his painful grief and his agonizing nightmares were most definitely not among them. And he couldn’t deny that there were days when he felt like he couldn’t live with that terrible burden anymore…

What he _could_ live with, however, was doing all kinds of despicable, shameless things to make himself more powerful each day. Betrayals and machinations that weren’t far from actual treason, decisions like not only getting rid of his worst enemy, Cosimo de’ Medici, whose limitless authority and unquestioned rule over this city was now no more than a distant past, but also much worse, much more heartless things… such as taking the life of his own father after taking the one of his sister, and doing so without hesitating for a single second, without feeling any kind of regret from that moment up until this day. He had no reason to care. His father’s death wasn’t something that he didn’t deserve. Rinaldo had always doubted him, he had always considered him weak and incapable of bearing the burden of power… so that’s why he enjoyed watching life fade away from his eyes more than any other of the countless sins he had committed during those short three years…

All of a sudden, he realized how much he got lost in thoughts when he unexpectedly felt a gentle touch on his forearm, turning his head immediately to the person who made his distant mind return to the presence once again. 

His eyes fell on a young girl in a beautiful expensive golden gown, the light fabric of which hugged the lovely curves of her slim body and flowed down gracefully, while its color brought out her soft, milky skin and her breathtaking long hair, which extended to her tiny waist like a shimmering golden waterfall.

,,I’m sorry… have I disturbed you?” she asked in a quiet, unsure voice and pulled her hand back shyly.

,,Not at all,” he lied indifferently and took a sip of wine from his goblet decorated by gold and precious stones, his eyes running down her tantalizing figure for a second before turning away, until his gaze ended at some distant spot on the other side of the room, ,,what is it? Is something wrong?”

,,No, everything is alright,” she responded quickly, ,,I just… wanted to spend some time with you. If you don’t mind, of course…”

,,Why would I mind, Lavinia? You’re my wife, on evenings like this you can spend as much time with me as you want.”

He realized that his voice sounded neutral and completely emotionless, which probably didn’t convince her very much about the honesty of his words, however at the same time he didn’t really care. She has always been quiet and shy, she has been like that from the first moment he met her, and that’s why he knew she didn’t feel comfortable at all on social occasions like this, which was even more understandable because of the fact that she didn’t really know more than a half of the people in the room. However, as his wife she had to attend a dinner hosted by one of the most respected members of the Council, Andrea de’ Pazzi, and he didn’t truly care whether she felt comfortable with that or not. She was his wife after all and that position, which many young noble girls envied her a lot, involved duties exactly like this one. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t care about her at all. However, their marriage was no more than a matter of politics and power, a matter of an alliance he needed more than any other to keep his influence and power over this city truly limitless and unquestioned. Before she married him, her name was Lavinia Visconti, and she was the only daughter of the Duke of Milan, whose support was of vital importance to him, since the only way anyone could truly rule over one of the many city states of his country in those days was to have the support of other leaders, dukes, doges and kings, who then together formed an alliance of equals to ensure that their power and rule would never be questioned or stolen from them at the end. Such alliances, however, weren’t exactly reliable most of the times either, since the lust for power that took roots deeply in the hearts of all rulers made them hungry for what didn’t belong to them, especially when it came to other cities and their wealth, and therefore stabbing each other in the back truly wasn’t beyond anyone among them.

However, he could not have allowed himself to risk such a possibility under any circumstances. And since the best way to make sure an alliance would last was by uniting the blood of two families and making it one, he didn’t hesitate for a second when the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti, offered him his daughter’s hand in marriage.

He didn’t mind the fact that there was no love in their union, he had always known that once he would get married it would be exactly for a reason like this, not for some foolish, childish, naive dreams about finding happiness and true affection for a woman he would get to spend the rest of his life with. And besides, it was an obvious fact that when it came to beauty, Lavinia could easily rival Helen of Troy herself, and that certainly didn’t make having her as his wife unpleasant in any way either.

And truly, it was undoubtable that this girl, who was now his, was so breathtaking and radiant, especially on this evening, that she apparently attracted more than just a few pairs of eyes, those of men filled with admiration and desire, while those of women filled with jealousy and slight hostility as the gazes and the attention of their husbands and betrotheds apparently didn’t belong to them anymore, but to a girl who without any doubt considerably outshined them all.

,,Signore degli Albizzi,” he suddenly heard an unexpected voice, a voice that probably spared his wife the burden of continuing their conversation after he apparently showed no particular interest in her company for the moment.

His eyes fell on the woman who spoke to him immediately. She was dressed in a beautiful gown of dark red color, her long, light brown hair was braided and pinned up in a complicated hairstyle, and the moment her green eyes met his, he knew immediately what was it that she wanted, he knew without her having to say a single word or show a single gesture.

,,Madonna de’ Medici,” he replied to her, putting his goblet on the table by his side to take her hand and bow, his lips touching the skin of that hand lightly, ,,to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?”

It would be so much easier if they didn’t have to pretend, however with all the eyes of the people around him, with all those men who watched his every single movement carefully to spot any mistake or weak spot, he had no choice but to guard each word he said and each gesture he made.

,,I will speak plainly, if you don’t mind, Signore. I need to ask for a moment of your time… there is an urgent matter I must talk to you about. And I’m afraid I must do so in privacy.”

If it hadn’t been for all the people around them, in that moment he would probably have grabbed her by shoulders and shout at her to watch her words and think before she speaks. How could she be so incautious? Didn’t she know that if such words were heard, which at least by somebody they definitely were, it could have consequences neither of them would under any circumstances wish for?

,,I can’t imagine what could be so urgent and strictly private that you couldn’t share it with me right here and now, Madonna. Besides, everybody around us seems to be occupied either by their own conversations, or by the music, dance and the food. Except for my wife, who decided to keep me company, but I’m sure that whatever you want to tell me, she can hear as well.”

The irony behind those words was apparent and intentional, and the two of them were the only people in the entire room who could understand it. He mocked his lover by the hidden meaning of the words he said, since it was all too clear to him that she desired him and wanted to have a moment in privacy with him so that they could engage in activities much more intimate than would be appropriate on any social evening. And putting her in an uncomfortable situation by saying that she should speak plainly about it in front of his wife, which she of course couldn’t, was a subtle form of punishment for her incautious words, which might still have some unsought consequences for him if some of his enemies actually heard them. 

,,I’m not sure that you understood me correctly. This is truly a matter no one else can hear about, not even your lovely, beautiful wife, I’m afraid. I truly can’t explain until we’re alone.”

The slight jealousy in her tone, that despite her best efforts didn’t remain hidden, kept making things more and more apparent and dangerous by each word she said. What was wrong with her? He knew she was no fool, normally she definitely wouldn’t risk the possibility of anyone finding out about their affair, and most definitely not without having any apparent reason for it. 

,,I would suggest you still tried anyway.”

,,It’s about my husband, Signore. Does this make what I have to say worth your privacy at least for a few moments?” she asked, the impatience and irritation in her voice more than apparent. It seemed like she was losing her patience with him just as much as he was with her.

,,About you husband, you say? Well, if that’s the case, Madonna, perhaps you should give me a reason in the first place for why should I care about anything concerning a man who was sent into exile for a treason, a treason which happens to be scheming a murder and being responsible for my father’s death.”

,,Is that truly what you believe that happened?” she scoffed slightly, apparently not willing to give up her intentions of getting what she wanted and determined to keep their conversation going until she would finally get him to leave with her to some place where there would be no eyes to witness what should definitely remain unseen, ,,I think we both know that the only crime my husband has ever committed, if that’s what you want to call a crime at all, was wanting nothing but the best for this city and therefore making many personal sacrifices to achieve that goal, sacrifices that put him and his position in danger, in danger of making you his enemy for his own beliefs in what’s right.”

Her tone was determined and her eyes were not breaking the contact with his even for a single second, the way she spoke, the way she stood in front of him and the way she looked at him all made her look truly convinced, unbending and strong, so different from most of the women he had encountered in his life so far. It almost made her sound as if she truly meant what she said… which he didn’t suppose was the case. He knew very well that she harbored no real affection for her husband whatsoever. However, he also knew that in this world nobody could really know, nobody could really see inside a person’s heart completely, since all that everyone did was hiding behind masks of countless lies and schemes. He might have shared his bed with her more than he did with his own wife, however that didn’t mean he knew her and her real intentions at all. In this city, everyone could be an enemy and no one could ever let their guard down.

,,All I know is that the Council has found Cosimo de’ Medici guilty. And I would never presume to question the Council’s decisions. Although I must admit, it’s truly admirable how loyal and faithful you still remain to him even after the humiliation he has been put through. I’m sure that every man would wish for such a devoted wife as you are, Madonna de’ Medici. We both know that your loyalty to your husband is truly unreserved and as his wife you would never betray him, so I can understand your indignation about his fate completely.”

After those words, he couldn’t resist a little, almost imperceptible smirk that appeared on his lips for a split second before being quickly hidden behind his goblet, from which he indifferently took a small sip, while his eyes remained locked with hers constantly. He truly enjoyed his little sardonic mockery, taking revenge on her for still being unable, or perhaps more unwilling than unable, to take a hint that their conversation should definitely not be continued at the moment.

,,You’re quite right, Signor degli Albizzi. And that loyalty is exactly the reason why I must keep insisting upon having a certain conversation with you and leaving this room to make sure that what I’ll say won’t end up heard by any ears that shouldn’t be concerned about it at all,” she answered, lying without batting an eyelash and ignoring the teasing sarcasm behind his previous words completely, her determination still absolutely unwavering. 

,,Very well then,” he decided after a few moments of an intense, nonverbal exchange between their locked eyes, ,,I guess you leave no choice. Hopefully my wife will excuse me for leaving her without a company for you, Madonna,” he said while turning his head to the golden-haired beauty by his side.

,,Of course, it’s alright…,” Lavinia said quickly, turning her eyes to the ground shyly, as she did all the times when he tried to share an eye contact with her for longer than a just few moments.

,,I’m sure that she won’t suffer from a lack of company,” her quiet words were suddenly interrupted by Contessina’s slightly mocking voice, ,,who could leave such a beautiful young lady alone in the middle of a ball like this?”

After her words he quickly took a step towards her and let her lay her hand on his arm so that he could lead her away. The last thing he needed was for his wife to become suspicious of him because of the apparent coldness and jealousy in his lover’s voice.

They walked together through the crowded room and he tried his best to look as comfortable and relaxed as possible, even though he could feel many curious gazes on their backs as they passed all those noblemen and noblewomen, many of which were probably already scheming in their heads, asking themselves how would it be possible to use this unexpected sight against him in the future, in whatever way possible.

When they finally left the ballroom and ended up in a grand, expensively decorated hallway, he still didn’t stop and continued leading her through it, his steps getting more and more hurried as there were still less and less eyes of enemies glancing at them.

And once he was sure that they got rid of every single person who could overhear their following conversation, or more importantly who could possibly witness their following actions, he grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her back into a tall stone pillar behind her, perhaps a lot more forcefully than he intended to.

,,Are you out of your mind, Contessina?!” he asked furiously while having to put much effort into keeping his voice quiet and not shouting his rage out without any restraints, ,,what was that supposed to mean?! Do you have any idea what consequences your actions might have?! Do you want the whole city to find out about the fact that we share secrets no one can hear about, and soon after let all those people figure out that we’re sleeping together?! Do you truly have no better thing to do than to deal with a scandal like that?!”

,,Well, maybe if you actually came and shared a bed with me, I wouldn’t have to ask for a private moment with you in front of the eyes of the entire Florence,” she scoffed sarcastically, ,,but since it seems that you’re not interested in my company at night anymore, I had to find a different way to get a chance to speak to you.”

,,Is this what it’s about?” he asked mockingly, ,,revenge for letting you sleep alone for a few months?”

,,One could hardly not be jealous while having to see that shamelessly beautiful young wife of yours by your side, while having to witness how every single man in the city looks at her as if she was some goddess for them to worship, and while having to deal with those ceaseless imagines in my head, images of the things you sure do with her at nights… all those things you used to do with me, while promising me I’ll be the only one you’ll ever love. I can see how you’re keeping your promise… is she the reason why you haven’t made love to me for so long? Don’t tell me she can satisfy you better than I can… she looks way too innocent for knowing something about real pleasure…”

,,And I can see how this was such an urgent matter concerning your husband that couldn’t wait to be discussed,” he said sardonically, the sarcasm in his voice mixing with the still persisting anger, ,,speaking about him… I’m sure that Cosimo would love to see how his wife is so desperate to give herself to his worst enemy… and if you’re going to be so reckless and incautious the next time as well, I wouldn’t consider it impossible that he would find out about it very soon. You know he still has many allies in this city and I’m sure that if they were to suspect that there is something between you and me, they would let him know in a heartbeat…”

,,Even if they did, what consequences would it have for me?” she scoffed quietly, ,,do you think I don’t know that he’s not coming back? He will stay in his exile in Venice for the rest of his life… you made sure of it already. The Council will never allow the return of a man who was found guilty of killing a nobleman, especially one so important as your father. Oh, how clever it was from you, Ogron degli Albizzi… poisoning him to take revenge for how he treated you for all those years, and at the same time to get him out of your way so that you could seize his power and take his place… and finding a way to make it look as if it was all my husband’s doing. And when I first found out about it, I was so happy… I thought that we would finally get to be together, just like we always wanted to… I was truly hoping that you would see the opportunity for us, that you would arrange Cosimo’s death somehow and take me as your wife after… but the next thing I found out was that you were marrying the daughter of the Duke of Milan. And I was so destroyed, but I knew that the sole purpose of your marriage was to form a strong alliance, so I forgave you and let it be. Especially after you promised me that nothing between us would change… now I’m not so sure if I can trust your promises anymore…” 

She didn’t even manage to finish what she was trying to say, since in that moment her words were silenced by his passionate lips against hers, by his hands grabbing her hips lustfully and making her let out a small gasp of shock from the immediate pleasure that his unexpected possessive act has caused her. And so even though she was still angry with him… she didn’t fight. In fact, she did the exact opposite, she succumbed to his touch completely, letting him press his body against hers and trap her between him at the cold stone pillar, subconsciously burying her fingers in his blood-red hair as she did so many times before, letting his lips travel down to her neck…

He would be lying if he said that he didn’t miss her body. Because despite all of her jealousy, if he was to choose between her and his wife with whom to share his bed with, and if that decision had no consequences, he would have chosen her without any hesitation. She was his lover for five years already after all… and she was much more skillful when it came to pleasing him than his young, beautiful, yet inexperienced wife. 

However physical pleasure, no matter how tempting, has never been the first priority in his life. For him, bedding a woman was never simply a meaningless act with a sole purpose of satisfying his body, no, if he did it, there had to be a different reason for it as well, just like it has been for all those years when he slept with Contessina to gain her trust and make her reveal the most dangerous, most guarded secrets concerning her husband and the entire Medici family. However now, when Cosimo was already not a threat anymore… what reason would he have to continue this and risking that somebody would find out about their affair?

However, this time he would take her… this time it would be for the first and the last time he would decide to make her his for the sake of nothing else than pure pleasure… and then, he would break her heart. Tell her he would never have her again, tell her he was never truly hers. It had to be that way. It was cold and heartless, but it was rational, and he felt no guilt. None at all.

His hands travelled down slowly to her long skirt and as he started lifting it up, he felt the quickened heartbeat against his lips on her neck, hearing her quiet moan as he lifted her up with one quick movement, making her wrap her legs around his waist while supporting her body and against the pillar with his hands, uniting their eager lips once again after such a long time.

However, before he managed to continue what he started, she broke their kiss, so suddenly and so unexpectedly, laying her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes while her chest was rising and falling quickly as she was gasping for air.

,,Ogron… this was not the reason why I wanted to meet with you…”

,,You don’t want me to take you?”

,,I… I want to… but you can’t,” she whispered quietly.

,,Why not? You made me risk quite a lot coming here with you… so make it worth that risk at least,” he said, the dissatisfaction in his voice perhaps a lot more apparent than he wanted it to be.

,,No, Ogron, listen to me. You don’t understand… we truly can’t… this is about the actual reason why I wanted to speak to you…”

,,What are you talking about…?” he asked quietly, unable to understand the meaning of her words in the moment.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if she was preparing herself for saying something that took a lot of courage to reveal. And he couldn’t help but started feeling quite worried when a possibility suddenly appeared in his mind, a possibility that…

,,I’m with a child. I… I am carrying your child, Ogron.”

In the moment when those words escaped her lips, he felt as if they were a spell, a spell that managed to turn his body and his mind into stone, making him unable to think, unable to move, unable, or perhaps more unwilling, to process the true meaning hiding behind the shocking information she just shared with him. 

After a few whiles, he felt how his hands closed around her waist even more tightly and put her down, letting her feet touch the ground and the long dark-red skirt cover her bare legs once again, however that was more of a subconscious action, he still felt as if his mind was frozen, not allowing him to think straight in that moment, actually not allowing him to think at all.

Contessina de’ Medici, the wife of the man who has been his worst enemy and the worst enemy of his father for all those long years, the woman whom he used, whom he fooled into thinking he actually cared about her, the woman who belonged to a family which always wanted to destroy and humiliate his own, and it was no secret that they tried to hide from anyone… this woman was now carrying his child? 

,,No… that’s impossible…” he whispered quietly, still unable to deal with the shock of this new reality, ,,Contessina… this can’t be. You must be wrong…”

,,I’m not wrong, Ogron. I have already carried two children, I know my body well enough to tell when I’m pregnant. Besides, about two months ago, when we last shared a bed, one day I started to feel something strange inside me… I felt magic. Dark, powerful, dangerously strong magic… and that was all that I needed to know, to know without any doubts… to know that soon enough I’ll give a child to the only man I’ve ever loved...”

He was quiet for a few moments, unsure of what to say. His initial reaction of shock and disbelief was suddenly starting to fade away, finally making it possible for him to think rationally and analyze all the possible consequences with a clear mind and a cold head. 

,,Why… why aren’t you saying anything?” his lover asked, worry and uncertainty clearly written all over her face, ,,I know that this is probably not how you wanted things to turn out, that it certainly wasn’t a part of your plan when it came to the two of us… however not everything in life can be under your control, I suppose. And I know that this may… complicate things, for the both of us, I’m well aware of that, but aren’t you… aren’t you… happy? At least a little bit?” she whispered quietly, taking his face into her hands gently and looking deep into his blue, ice-like eyes, looking into them with so much boundless love, with so much naive trust, with so much hopeful faith…

,,What is there to be happy about?” he scoffed sardonically, pushing her hands away coldly, ,,since when is having an illegitimate heir with a woman, who happens to be the wife of my worst enemy, something to be grateful for? This should never have happened… do you even realize what consequences might it have now, if anybody was to find out that I am the father of your child? Any scandal, any mistake, even a small one, can tip the fragile balance of power in this city, the power and influence which happens to belong to me now, however I’m not such a fool to think it has to stay like that forever. I’m saying any small mistake, Contessina, and this child of ours could hardly be described as just that…”

,,We have created a life, Ogron,” she interrupted him firmly, grabbing his hand and looking into his eyes once again, making him notice the apparent disbelief and indignation behind her intense light-green ones, ,,how can you say that’s a mistake? We have created a life out of our love, out of all that affection, out of the intimacy that meant so much for us, out of all that we felt towards each other, so how can you…”

,,Adultery is a crime, Contessina,” he said coldly, not letting her finish her words ,,and you know that. And even though everyone in this city might be guilty of it, a crime is not a crime until somebody has a proof it has been committed. And what more of a proof could one ask for to accuse somebody of adultery than a child? Everyone will know that it’s not Cosimo’s, since he could hardly share his bed with you from exile, in which he is already for more than two years. And there are spies everywhere in this city, as quiet as shadows and as cunning as foxes, so it won’t stay a secret for too long that the man, who has committed that crime with you, was me. Which is the last thing I need to deal with right now, right now when things are finally starting to work out according to my plans…”

,,I know it is a crime,” she said firmly, ,,however one that this society quietly accepts, one that almost everyone could be accused of, committed every single night by so many men and women who share their bodies with everyone else but their lawfully wedded spouses. So tell me, how could such a widely accepted crime, a crime which in this city is in fact to crime at all, cause you, the one and only most powerful man of Florence, any kind of trouble…?”

,,I told you already!” he burst out unexpectedly, starting to pace around the spacious abandoned room lined with tall decorated pillars made of smooth white stone, ,,in a city like this, only a fool would take power for granted. You know how many people desire my position, you know how many people would do anything for it, kill, torture, betray their allies, so what makes you think that they wouldn’t use any mistake I make against me? They are men who played this game for long years, Contessina… they know how to use any weak spot that their enemy shows them for achieving their own goals. And even if it’s a small thing like this… the consequences of publicly committing a crime, any crime at all, are not something to be taken lightly for a man of my position…”

,,You say adultery is a crime,” she interrupted him, taking a few steps towards him and placing her hands on his shoulder, stopping him form nervously pacing around like an animal locked in its cage, ,,but I ask you, what is a crime in this city? What the law says it is, or what the men who rule over it decide it will be? What you decide it will be… Florence is yours, Ogron. And you achieved it all by yourself… so don’t underestimate your power and your influence. Do you truly think that someone in the Council would dare to stand against you, that they would dare to try to steal your power based on the fact that you have an illegitimate child? They respect you, and that’s because they fear you, all of them…”

,,For now. They fear me for now. However let a pack of starved animals see you bleed, and after smelling your blood and vulnerability, even if it’s just a small wound, nothing will stop them from tearing you apart in their claws anymore, even though they have never dared to even come close to you before. All they need is that small drop of blood. You apparently know nothing about how these things work, so stop trying to try to teach me…”

,,Then if you don’t want an illegitimate child,” she interrupted him suddenly, placing a hand on his cheek and making him look at her, ,,no one says it must be like that. There is a different way… you know what I’m talking about.”

,,That’s out of the question!” he snapped at her harshly.

,,Why? Why should it be? Isn’t that the answer to all our problems, isn’t that the way to finally fulfill all our desires, isn’t that what we’ve always been dreaming about…?” she asked quietly, taking one step closer to him so that their bodies ended up against each other, touching lightly and tantalizing them both with that familiar sensation, her quiet whisper that gently caressed the skin of his neck making shivers run down his spine, even thought against his will…

,,Nothing is impossible to you… so I beg you, do it. Make sure that my husband won’t get to see another sunrise, make sure his soul leaves to a better place… it’s not that much to ask. Do it, so that we can be together…”

,,And what about my wife?” he scoffed mockingly, ,,should I get rid of her in the way you suggest as well? Should I take the life of a completely innocent girl just so that you can have all your dreams and fantasies fulfilled…?”

,,Oh, please, Ogron,” she smiled, her hands slowly traveling up his strong arms, while her lips got tantalizingly close to his neck, seducing him with their light touch that felt as gentle as a caress of a feather, ,,as if spilling innocent blood was beyond you… you didn’t hesitate to do it to gain your power, you didn’t hesitate to do it after, you didn’t hesitate to flood this city with the blood of your enemies, or of anyone who you simply thought might become a threat one day… you have the crimson red blood of Florence on your hands. So don’t tell me you would take pity on that pretty little wife of yours just because she is an innocent, pure, naive child who doesn’t deserve such fate…”

,,You’re right, spilling innocent blood isn’t beyond me,” he said coldly, resisting the urge to unite their lips when she turned her head upwards, looking at him from behind her long lashes suggestively, ,,but I don’t spill it when there is no reason for it.”

,,No reason?!” she exclaimed indignantly, those few simple words enough to make the blood suddenly boil inside her, her voice filled with anger and disbelief, ,,is our love not a good reason enough?! Does our relationship truly mean nothing to you anymore?! Is it truly so unimportant that you can’t sacrifice one life for it?! One life, Orgon! We both know that’s not such a terrible price to pay for the things you truly want…”

,,And what makes you think I want this?” he interrupted her suddenly, his voice emotionless, his ice-cold eyes piercing through her with one short glance like a dagger, the meaning of his words making her freeze as if they turned her entire body into ice as well, ,,what makes you think that I want to risk everything for you, what makes you think I want to sacrifice a valuable alliance with Milan, the alliance which can secure all my power, just to fulfill your childish desires? Why should I do that? To spare your poor little heart? You are such a fool, Contessina… you have always been. Do you truly think I cared for you during all those years?” he asked as the corners of his mouth lifted in a small, mocking smile, his fingers catching her chin suddenly and making her look at him, ,,so naive… I can hardly believe I actually made you fall for such an obvious trick. Did you really think I loved you? Do you not live in this world, Contessina? Do you not know that love has died in this city long years ago? It’s just an illusion, a tool of manipulation, a weapon against the weak… and you, my dear, have been a perfect victim for all those years. When you exchanged the darkest secrets of your family, when you betrayed your husband in more than just one way during those passionate nights that we spent together, when you threw everything you had away just for lust and a shallow lie, were you truly not aware of the only reason why was I sharing my body with you? If not… then shame on us both. On me for fooling you and on you for letting yourself be fooled. And on sealing your own husband’s fate as you gave everything you had to me...”

Disbelief and pain were both clearly written all over her face when he finished, her eyes already wet from tears that soon rolled down her cheeks like small, shiny pearls, and her beautiful face covered in long shadows thrown by the lights burning on the tall pillars was now as pale and terrified as if she had seen a ghost.

,,No… you… you don’t mean that,” she whispered in a quiet, shaky voice, ,,no, I don’t believe you, you didn’t…”

,,I assure you I mean every single word I said,” he interrupted her, his tone as emotionless and as cold as his heart, his heart that felt no sympathy, not even the smallest bit of pity for the woman whose entire world he just shattered so easily as if it was just a fragile, meaningless piece of glass, ,,the price for gullibility is high, Contessina. You were the one who chose to pay it.”

He saw how she hid her face in her palms, turning her back against him as she started to sob quietly, her shoulders shaking and her long brown hair falling in front of her face, making her look so helpless and so vulnerable, that perhaps every other man would start feeling at least a small bit of compassion towards the woman whom he caused so much pain and grief. However, he was not like every other man. And that was his advantage. Having no heart, burying it so deep that it couldn’t feel, that it wouldn’t make him show even the slightest bit of humanity and kindness, paid off well in a world like this…

Just when he wanted to turn around and leave her, leave her all alone so carelessly, just with her sorrow and disbelief for the rest of her life, she grabbed his hand all of a sudden, making him stop and look into her light-green eyes filled with tears and desperation once again.

,,What about our child, Ogron…?” she asked in a quiet, weak voice, ,,I beg you… I can’t bring it up all by myself, I won’t be able to do that…”

,,Then don’t.”

,,What do you…?”

,,Get rid of it, Contessina.”

There was a moment of complete silence between them as he said those words. All of a sudden, her sobs stopped and all they could hear were their own breaths, hers quick and shallow, meanwhile his completely calm and regular. He saw the intense shock and horror suddenly flashing behind her eyes, despair and hopelessness written all over her face. However, he would not have taken his words back. It’s what he wanted her to do and he felt no guilt because of it at all.

,,How… how can you…?” she managed to say after a moment that seemed like an entire eternity, her voice shaking so intensely, however this time not only from shock and disbelief, but also from anger that kept growing stronger and stronger by each word she said, ,,how can you say something like that…? How can you suggest that I… that I _murdered_ your own child?! Do you truly have no heart and conscience, Ogron degli Albizzi?! You are the father of this child that I’m carrying! Would you truly kill your own flesh and blood?! Would you truly want me to take a life in its most innocent, most vulnerable form just so that there would be no consequences for you for creating it?! Would you…”

,,Yes, Contessina, I would,” he said, his voice calm and completely careless, ,,that’s exactly what I want you to do. And before you start complaining and calling me a heartless beast, maybe you should stop and think about the consequences that bringing this life into the world would have for you as well. Has your family not lost enough already? Has it not dealt with enough humiliation? You know what will happen after the people of Florence find out about this…”

,,And why should I care?!” she shouted indignantly, ,,why should I care at all for what anyone says when this is a decision concerning the life of _my child?!_ ”

,,Because your child will be called a bastard and you a whore for the rest of your lives,” he said indifferently, barely even looking at her while saying those words, ,,is that truly what you want, Contessina?”

,,I would have people call me much worse things, I would stand the humiliation and disgrace I would bring on my family, but I would not be able to live with the blood of my own child on my hands,” she said firmly, ,,and you’re right… I was blind and naive. How could I not see that the man whom I loved so much during all those years was no more than a cruel, heartless monster?”

,,Indeed, I’m asking the same question. And now, if you excuse me, I must return back. We’ve spent much more time here than we should have already. People might get suspicious…”

,,You truly don’t care about anything else than your own plans and ambitions, do you?” she scoffed quietly, ,,so this is it? You’re leaving me to my fate, breaking my heart and leaving me with a child that was born out of everything but love on your part, with no intention to ever look back at all? I played and finished my part in your game, a part of a naive fool who helped you gain power… so now you have no reason to care about me at all.”

,,I’m glad that you understand.”

,,I was truly a fool… I might not have loved Cosimo and he might not have had any deep affection for me either, but at least he has always treated my with respect and care, if nothing else… he was more of a man than you’ll ever be,” she whispered, the angry poison of her words meant to hurt his pride at least a little, however without any success. She was of no use to him anymore, so why should her words matter?

,,What a shame you only realized that now, isn’t it? Because you have nothing left now, only a husband whom you’ll never see again and a lover who stabbed you in the back and left you with a child that’s going to bring you nothing but disgrace and humiliation. And I hope you realize that you should feel grateful that I’m even letting you be the one to make the decision whether to keep it or not. Trust me, it would have been a lot easier for me to just kill it right here and right now with the use of my magic… but as you said, I guess I truly have enough influence to make sure this mistake doesn’t affect me and my plans too much. However, I want you to know that all of my debts to you are paid off by this mercy that I’m showing you and our bastard child, since you apparently want to keep it so much. Live your lives in peace, but don’t assume I will ever care about either of you. From now on, you don’t exist to me anymore and the child you’ve conceived is not mine. I hope I made myself clear and that you’ll remember my words for the rest of your life.”

He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes, experiencing a strange feeling he couldn’t quite describe before saying his next words, knowing that he was leaving a significant part of his past behind, leaving it behind together with the responsibility that was his, however which he refused to take.

,,Goodbye, Contessina.”

He turned around slowly and started to walk away, the flickering light of the fire throwing a long, dark shadow behind him until he reached the tall wooden door of the abandoned room. A few moments later he opened it a disappeared on the other side, disappeared so quickly and effortlessly as if the conversation that just changed her entire life and shattered her soul into a million tiny pieces never happened.

She stood there for a few more seconds, as if a part of her hoped that the door would open once again and that he’d come back to her, changing his mind, begging for forgiveness and promising her everything she ever asked for… however, in reality she knew that was never going to happen. He walked away now, and it was for good, he left her abandoned, hurt and humiliated for the rest of her life… however, even if what he’s done to her was despicable and shameless, at least it taught her something. Now she knew one thing for sure, she knew she would never do the same mistake she did with him, ever again. She would never trust her fragile heart again, she would never trust any beautiful hopes or empty promises… she would never trust anyone. Especially not men like him, cold, calculative, heartless, unable and unwilling to see beyond their own ambitions and their insatiable hunger for vast, limitless power.

However, even though the anger she felt towards him right now made her wish she would have a way to take revenge on him and make him pay for all the pain he has caused her, a quiet, yet relentless little voice kept asking inside her head… was it her fault that he became a man like this? Did she turn him into this heartless monster in the moment when she told him about the way to gain the most powerful dark magic there was, the magic that he now possessed? Or has this cold cruelty always been inside him…?

He was walking along the long corridors of the Palazzo Pazzi, trying to clear his head as fast as possible, knowing that once he reached the huge, impressively decorated room where the dinner and the ball was taking place, he would already have to forget about everything that just happened in order to be able to thing straight, to think rationally when he would once again find himself surrounded by his countless enemies and fake allies. He had some matters to take care of tonight after all… and if all went according to his plans, he might gain a powerful ally before the night ends, perhaps one that would not search for the first opportunity to foolishly stab him in the back when the first possibility would arrive. There was only one way to ensure an alliance that was a little safer and a little more permanent… just like he’s done it with the Duke Visconti when he married his daughter. However, now he also needed to secure his position within this city… and he knew exactly how he was going to do that. 

However, his thoughts got interrupted all of a sudden when he heard a quiet sound… a sound coming from behind the corner, a sound of quiet, small sobs that made him stop when he was already just a few steps away from the door that led to the spacious ballroom filled with music, dance and laughter intertwining with countless hidden intrigues and betrayals. 

He took a few quiet steps in the direction where the sound was coming from… and the person whom he found with her back turned against him and her face in her palms was most definitely not anyone he would expect to see. 

,,Lavinia…?” he asked immediately, unable to hide the shock in his voice, making her gasp from the sudden surprise and turn around abruptly, ,,what are you doing here?”

He took a few steps towards her and before she could say anything, took her hand and started leading her at least a little further away from the ballroom to make sure nobody could possibly overhear their conversation. He only hoped that no one has managed to see her like this before him… it would sure have raised a lot of questions, such as why was his wife crying alone in an abandoned corridor, keeping away from all the people, especially as he was seen leaving not such a long time ago with a different woman… however the answer to that question was the one that he wanted to find out as well.

,,What happened?” he asked quietly after making sure that they were far enough, placing his hands on her shoulders and turning around her to face him, even though her eyes clearly refused to meet his, ,,Lavinia, why are you crying?”

,,It… it’s nothing… I’m alright,” she managed to whisper between her sobs.

,,You are quite apparently not alright. Or do you want to tell me you often cry without any reason?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, which he, however, regretted immediately. He might not have felt quite comfortable with talking to his wife after the conversation he just had with Contessina, however that was definitely not her fault. 

,,No… but I’ll be fine,” she said, still refusing to meet his eyes, ,,you should go, I know you have many important matters to attend to, you shouldn’t worry about me now…”

,,I think that what I should do now is to find out the reason why I found my wife crying alone without any reason that would be apparent to me. I’m asking you to tell me, since it is my duty to protect you and take care of you…”

,,You truly don’t need to worry…”

,,Just as it is your duty to obey me!” he snapped at her harshly all of a sudden, wishing he could take his words and the tone in which he said them back immediately. What was wrong with him? Why was he taking out his anger on this innocent girl, who had nothing to do with the mess he got himself into? 

What he said was not untrue, in the times they lived it was truly considered a matter of course that he had the right do demand she did as he said at all times, however in this situation he felt a strange feeling of guilt, a quiet voice of his almost non-existent conscience whispering to him immediately after he said those words. How could he demand that she respected her duties towards him as his wife when he clearly disrespected his duties towards her as her husband, sharing a bed with a different woman and creating a new life with her on top of that?

He saw how the sudden change in his voice clearly made her wince, while her face covered in tears and her fragile figure made her look so helpless and vulnerable that in that moment he realized one another unexpected feeling inside him, a yet unknown feeling that truly wanted to protect her and make her feel safe in his presence…

,,I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…,” he started, however he was immediately interrupted by her next quiet, shocking words, that made his blood run cold the moment she said them.

,,I saw you,” she whispered, her eyes still focused on the ground, her cheeks getting even wetter by even more tears that rolled down her face as she said those words, ,,I saw you back there in that abandoned room… with Contessina de’ Medici.”

There was a short moment of silence between them after her confession, her words seemingly still lingering around in the air, making it heavy and impossible to breath. 

However right after that short, evanescent moment he started feeling that the initial shock soon turned into burning anger, so quickly and unexpectedly that he knew already that it was going to be very difficult to control his emotions, that that it was going to take a lot of self-control to tame that rage in the next moments, since this situation, that was clearly only getting worse and worse, was getting out of his hand completely. And he was certainly not used to that feeling. 

,,What were you doing there?” he asked quietly, barely restraining the anger in his voice.

She didn’t say anything, no words escaped her lips in the next few moments, only her silent, almost inaudible little sobs kept testing his patience even more. 

,,Answer me!” he shouted all of a sudden despite his best efforts to control his emotions in her presence, immediately making her wince once again and take a step back with a clearly shocked and terrified expression on her beautiful face ,,what were you doing there and how dared you follow me and listen to a conversation that apparently did not concern you in any way?!”

,,I… I didn’t listen to what you were saying,” she sobbed quietly, unable to hold back two more small tears rolling down her pale cheeks ,,I left immediately, I left right at the moment when I saw… when I saw you being so… intimate with her…”

She quickly lifted her gaze for a split second after saying those words, her blue eyes filled with tears meeting his for a shot while, before looking down once again. After his unexpected angry outburst she couldn’t deny that she felt quite terrified… he never used to be like that. She never saw him lose his temper throughout the few months that they were married, not even once, he has always been so calm, clearly in control of his emotions at all times, which was probably something one must have learned when being the most powerful man in the entire city, a man who held all that unstable power and could lose it anytime, truly anytime, just as a result of any small mistake. When a man wanted to control the others, he must have known how to control himself in the first place, she supposed. So that’s why his reaction has left her so shocked, scared even…

She must have made him very angry, and in truth, she admitted he had every right to be. She should not have followed him when he left with that undeniably beautiful noblewoman, whose captivating green eyes were looking at him with so much barely restrained desire from the first moment he had entered the room, while looking at her, his wife, with so much spiteful jealously… she should have known what was hiding behind all of that. 

However it truth, she only had a feeling, a suspicion, so that’s why she had decided she must have silenced those doubts and follow him, just to make sure, still having an innocent belief inside her that her worries were groundless and that as her husband he would never have done such thing to her, that he would never have betrayed her with another woman like this…

And she remembered how she suddenly saw them, how she saw them painting a picture of such undeniable intimacy right in front of her innocent eyes, shattering her naive beliefs, that until that very moment she has been holding so tightly onto.

His passionate lips against her neck, her quiet moans of pleasure, her tights wrapped around his waist while his hands supported her against a tall stone pillar, the way they looked at each other, so much lust and need in their eyes, with such an intense craving for each other’s touch clearly written all over their faces, all of that hit her so hard that she simply couldn’t bear to look at them anymore, she turned around and ran away, her eyes already clouded by tears and her quiet sobs shaking her body while she was trying to escape the image that was still in front of her eyes, so clear, so vivid…

She knew he didn’t love her. And she didn’t even expect that from him, their marriage had nothing to do with love whatsoever, they were no more than two complete strangers who officially promised their loyalty to each other for the sake of a powerful political alliance. However, that changed nothing about the fact that when she saw him with Contessina de’ Medici, her heart was broken. Because the way he looked at his lover… he has never looked at her like that. However, a part of her wished he did, a part of her, or perhaps more than just a part, longed for his love, his affection, for his lust even, she longed for him despite everything, despite the merciless reality…

So she didn’t even want to imagine what they did after she left… because even though he has bedded her many times, it never felt like something that mattered to him at all. The way he made love to her was about no more than their entire marriage. A simple duty. A cold, impersonal, emotionless act of necessity. He knew what he had to do to make sure that the alliance between Florence and Milan would truly last for long years, and she knew it as well, they had to produce an heir, a son who would be a guarantee of the future of their families, and it was their duty to do so as quickly as possible, before any other political movements could threaten the deal that was the sole purpose of their entire marriage. 

She knew it was all about power and politics. He was not truly hers. So why did she feel so hurt, why was her heart so broken, why could she not deny that the fact that he was sharing his body with a different woman left her heart bleeding so badly? He had never even shown any particular affection towards her, he treated her with respect, he took care of her and made sure that she had everything she needed, but nothing more than that. Why did she have to be such a fool, why did she ever allow her heart to hope for more, even if just for a single second…? 

,,Were you truly thinking that you were the only woman I was bedding?” he asked suddenly after a while, making her realize she got lost in her thoughts completely, ,,then you are even more of a naive, innocent fool than I thought you were.”

His cold, heartless words made her lift her head and her gaze immediately, leaving her shocked by their meaning and taken aback by the emotionless tone of his voice.

,,Do you not know that our marriage is no more than an agreement between me and your father, which is something of so much more significance and value than your poor fragile heart and your naive dreams?”

He couldn’t help the bitter anger in his voice and the undeniable cynicism in his words as they escaped his lips. He was glad that she at least didn’t find out about one part of the truth, the part of the truth concerting a certain child that his former lover was now carrying, however he was still outraged about the fact that matters got out of his hand, now even more so, since there was one more person, other than him and Contessina, who knew about his crime, and that person happened to be his wife, who in her inexperienced childishness apparently still believed he should have felt bound by some kind of a moral loyalty or faithfulness towards her. Even so, a part of him realized that perhaps she had every right to feel outraged about what he’s done to her… but he was not in a mood to take care of such ridiculous, unimportant matters right now. He only needed to make sure that she would not speak about what she saw, that she would not utter a single word about it, and then he could finally take care of the matter, that he came here for in the first place…

,,I do realize that,” she answered quietly, ,,but… you’re my husband and…”

,,And what, Lavinia?” he interrupted her suddenly, catching her chin and lifting it to make her finally look into his eyes, and even though she apparently didn’t feel comfortable with that, she didn’t dare to resist, ,,I want you to realize one thing, so listen to me carefully and remember what I’m about to say, because I won’t say it again, and after I’m done, I’ll take it that you have understood my words and that you will never question them again in the future. In real life, marriage is not about loyalty when it comes to intimacy. You are not a child anymore, so you need to learn to accept that. For noblemen and noblewomen in this city, there is only one reason why they share their bodies, and that reason is power. Either to make the other person vulnerable, drag their secrets out of them and stab them in the back eventually, or just to enjoy the much simpler, yet still needed feeling of fulfilling your lust, which, however, is about nothing else than a need for power and control as well, even though in a different way. Bedding somebody has nothing to do with love in the circle of people who have forgotten and forsaken the meaning of that word a long time ago. And that’s why I want you to know, that in case you’ll ever feel the need of sharing your bed with a man other than me in the future, you have my full permission to do so, as long your real loyalty, the loyalty concerning my power over this city, belongs to me. You are young and beautiful, so I’m sure that seducing any man won’t be a problem to you. In fact, I’ll be glad if you do so, I’ll speak plainly if you don’t mind, if it was my choice, I would have you bed every single one of my enemies to make them weak and vulnerable, while you would stay loyal to me and bring me their secrets, secrets that I would never have the chance to find out about by myself. Most men succumb to beauty way too easily, and that’s why it would a be shame not to use that weakness against them, especially when my own wife is considered the most alluring beauty in the entire city. However, I realize that you’re not a whore whom I could simply pay for such services, so I’m definitely not going to force you into anything of what I just suggested, it must be your decision. But I can see that you long for love and affection, and you long for it so badly… so why not try to find at least something similar to it in the arms of a different man? Some of them perhaps have some remains of a heart and they could admire you, adore you, worship you on their knees even for your undeniable beauty, if you made them believe you were theirs… that way you could find what you’re looking for and prove your loyalty to me and this family in an invaluable way…”

He saw how the look in her eyes was gradually turning from shy and unsure to shocked and plainly horrified while he was speaking, her face seemingly turning paler and paler by each second. He knew that his words were cold, insensitive and perhaps a little too straightforward, however he wouldn’t have left out a single one out of them even if he had had the chance to change his mind and tell her what he wanted her to know in a different way. She needed to know the truth, she needed to get rid of that naivety that was making her so weak and vulnerable… because a man like him couldn’t afford to have a weak, naive, vulnerable wife. He didn’t care for the fact that he’s made her terrified, perhaps even disgusted with him and this entire city, because nothing could stand what between him and his will of turning her into what he wanted her to be. He would get what he wanted, and if what it took was heartlessly killing that useless childish innocence inside her, then so be it. She could turn out to be a truly valuable, powerful tool in his hands… all he needed to do was to make her see that there was no way of escaping the moral wickedness of the world and that the only way to stay alive was to give up her conscience and play this game according to its unfair, twisted, and many times cruel rules.

,,Do you… do you truly wish that I shared my body with a different man and… committed adultery?” she asked after a few whiles of silence, her shaking voice just a barely audible whisper, ,,but how could I? Perhaps you don’t care about your soul whatsoever, perhaps you would let it rot and die under the weight of all the sins you’ve committed for power… but I still value mine. And if that still meant nothing to you… adultery is not just a sin, it’s a crime as well…”

,,A crime committed every single night by every single person in this city. A crime that’s not even a crime until somebody explicitly finds out about it and decides to use it against you. Besides, I’m the man who holds the only real power over the entire Florence… so you don’t need to worry about our law. I suppose that as somebody suggested it to me today, in truth the only law is only what I say and what I want… and when it comes to the innocence and the purity of your soul, you don’t need to waste your time worrying about that either. You’ll lose it here sooner or later. I don’t know what you were used to, I don’t know how things worked in Milan, but right now and for the rest of your life, your home will be Florence. And trust me, the sooner you’ll learn that it’s not the beautiful, pristine city filled with the noble ideals and elevated visions of the new era that it’s presenting to the entire world, the better. The entire idea of Renaissance and humanism born in this city is just a lie, a lie to cover the dirty truth, to cover it behind all that beautiful art and lofty philosophy, meanwhile underneath that cover lies nothing else than a nest of snakes and traitors, who value nothing and nobody but themselves, their power, wealth, and privilege. I hope I made it clear enough to you now… and I hope that I made it clear that I won’t have my wife wasting time dreaming and losing herself inside some ridiculous ideals instead of living in the reality around her. As I said, I won’t force you into giving your body to any different man if you don’t wish to, however I will demand that you wake up from that childish fantasy of yours and learn what kind of a world you are surrounded by.”

He didn’t care about her reaction to his words anymore, he said everything he wanted her to know and now he had no reason at all to care about how she would deal with the harsh reality he’s just revealed to her. So he wanted to turn around and leave her there, hoping that it would be clear to her that he expected her presence back in the ballroom after a short while, since if she didn’t come back soon, her absence might seem quite suspicious to many curious eyes back there. 

However, his intentions were suddenly interrupted by her hand catching his when he turned around, making him stop immediately.

,,I don’t have the time for this conversation anymore, Lavinia,” he sighed, ,,I have matters I need to take care about.”

,,This is not about our conversation,” she said quietly, ,,I need to tell you something.”

Those few words somehow managed to convince him to turn around to face her, and to let her have a little more of his time, even though he had already wasted more than enough of it.

,,I’m listening.”

She was quiet for a few seconds, as if she was unsure of whether she truly wanted to say what she intended to just a moment ago. However, she realized that she probably shouldn’t waste his time anymore, and so she suddenly let those quiet words escape her lips…

,,I’m pregnant,” she whispered and looked into his eyes, however her tone that hardly suggested any happiness, ,,I hope you’re glad. You’ll have an heir soon, possibly a son who will make the alliance that means so much to you truly unbreakable…”

For the first few moments he found himself unable to react in any way. Not even a half an hour ago he found out that his mistress was carrying his child and now his wife told him the same thing? The shock from that fact perhaps made him seem like he wasn’t pleased or that he simply didn’t care at all… however in truth, it was exactly the other way around. 

Because this child, unlike Contessina’s, has always been a part of his plan and played a very important role in what he was trying to achieve. And if the child was a son on the top of that, that boy would be a key to everything, he would grant him unlimited power over Florence, that now with the full support of the Duke of Milan would truly become unquestionably his for all the long years that lied ahead.

However, at the same time he gradually became aware a strange feeling inside him while realizing she might soon give him a son… because he couldn’t deny that a part of him didn’t want that. An irrational, ridiculous, foolish part of him felt almost uneasy, almost worried when even imagining such a possibility… because that boy would be his flesh and blood, he would be his own descendant, and he somehow just couldn’t bear the idea of him possibly harming that child in any way. Which could happen more than easily, since he had no idea about how to be a father at all… he had no way to know how to fulfill such duties. What if he turned out to be no better than his own father, treating his son with coldness and disrespect, torturing him every single day with his unrealistically high expectations and demands that couldn’t ever be satisfied? 

That’s why a part of him wished for a daughter, a part of him that perhaps still represented the last remains of his heart and conscience, because for some reason he felt like if he had a girl, showing her affection and love would not be so difficult. She would not be burdened by the responsibility of being the next heir of the family’s name and fortune, and that’s why he wouldn’t be tempted to demand perfection from her at all costs… and maybe, just maybe, he would look into her eyes one day and see somebody he has lost for good, somebody who paid the price for his own selfish desires, a little girl that meant more to him that the world itself, until he decide to sacrifice her innocent life… if he had a daughter, perhaps he would even name her after that little girl. Bianca.

,,That’s wonderful news,” he said after he finally managed to sort things out in his head, at least a little, ,,I’m truly glad to hear that, Lavinia. Just as you said, if the child that you’re carrying is a boy, my alliance with your father will be untouchable, and so will be my power over this city. However, I hope you’ll excuse me now, since as I mentioned, I have some matters to take care of tonight. I hope you’ll find a way to enjoy yourself here in the meantime.”

He knew that his words were brief and that perhaps the tone of his voice didn’t show too much excitement either, however he simply wasn’t able to say anything more. So he just bowed his head slightly, turned around and started walking away, leaving her standing alone in the dimly enlightened abandoned corridor, leaving her alone with her thoughts, confused feelings and a somehow broken heart. 

She couldn’t stop thinking about the words he had told her… and the way in which he said them, his voice was so cold, so emotionless, showing no feelings at all while he was revealing the dark, twisted reality behind this seemingly beautiful city… and she didn’t even know how, but suddenly she found a single little tear rolling down her cheek, a little tear followed by many others, and soon her body was already shaking once again with quiet, barely audible sobs. 

She knew what kind of a world she lived in, in spite of what her husband thought, she was not so blindly, foolishly ignorant to all the crimes and misdeed of the noblemen and noblewomen around her… however, she has somehow always hoped that she could manage to be different. That she could manage not to fall into that dark abyss of a soul tainted by so much evil, a soul tainted by ruthless schemes and machinations, a soul tainted by adultery, murder, betrayals and lies… was she a truly a fool to ever wish for that? 

And she couldn’t even describe the shock and disbelief she was experiencing when he suggested what she might do for him… she could hardly breathe after he said she might prove her loyalty to him by sleeping with his enemies, by giving them her body and dragging their secrets out of them, or perhaps even much worse things… perhaps her husband would decide one day that one of his enemies has become too much of a threat… and she knew he would be capable of asking her to slit that enemy’s throat right in his bed… and suddenly she could see it all, her body giving pleasure to an unknown man, blinding him with lust, while her hand with a knife was slowly getting closer and closer to his neck, carefully and inconspicuously so that he wouldn’t notice… and then his scream, his blood on her hands…

She hid her face in her palms to get rid of that horrid image, her sobs getting more and more intense by each passing second and they simply couldn’t be silenced, no matter how hard she tried… because she knew she would never be able to do such a monstrous thing. Perhaps she was truly too good, too innocent, too pure for this world…and she knew that Ogron would certainly not be happy with her because of it. And that made her feel so broken, so desperate all of a sudden, since she simply couldn’t deny that a part of her longed for his affection, that a part of her wished to see what would it be like to melt the heart of a man who seemingly had it made of ice, that a part of her longed for his tenderness, for his protection, so that she could finally know how it feels to be truly and undeniably loved, which was something that she has never experienced throughout her entire life… however that was apparently not written in the stars for her. She has never been the person who people around her wanted her to be… she has always been a disappointment to her father, just as now she would be a disappointment to her husband… at least she was with his child now, at least she could make him satisfied with her in one way, if nothing else… even though her pregnancy itself was hardly giving her any feeling of joy or happiness at all.

She knew her duties she knew what she had to do… however at the age of seventeen she simply couldn’t imagine becoming a mother already, she couldn’t imagine being burdened with such a big responsibility when she barely even got used to the idea that she herself was not a child anymore. Unfortunately though, it wasn’t like she had a choice. That choice belonged to her father and to the man she married, she was in their power completely, nothing but little pawn in their alliance, an alliance that which was based on a transaction of her body, her body that was sold for power into the bed of a man she didn’t know at all, and for one reason only, to give him a child, a child which would then hardly belong to her at all, despite the fact that she would carry it and bring it into this world… 

She couldn’t help her sobs getting even louder and more desperate when she realized that merciless fact. This was not her child at all, it belonged to them, to their schemes and heartless games of politics… just like her. Just like her, a girl who was owned, weak, helpless and without any voice, however none of that was considered wrong, not even a little twisted, by the society that they lived in…

,,I hope you’re not a girl, little one,” she whispered quietly with a shaky voice, placing a hand on her stomach gently, ,,I would never wish the fate of being a girl in this world upon any child of mine… because the best thing a girl can be here is an obedient pawn with a pretty face…”

When he entered the ballroom, he was once again overwhelmed by all that strangely alluring beauty, by the lively music intertwining with the flashing images of colorful dresses spinning around in hypnotizing circles of complicated dance moves and figures, the carefree laugher and relaxed conversations filling the room with a delightful atmosphere and a false feeling of safety. 

However, he wasted no time admiring that splendid sight and made his way with quick, decisive steps to the man to whom he hoped to speak from the very beginning of this evening. 

He has already spotted his tall figure slightly towering above every other person in the room, which was something that only kept strengthening the man’s already undeniable aura of power and authority, an aura that always seemed so apparent and perhaps even intimidating to anyone who tried to make any sort of a conversation with him.

To anyone except for him. He didn’t hesitate to quickly make his way towards the dark-haired man who was sitting at the top of the table, enjoying his meal, his wine and the atmosphere around him, clearly not wanting anybody to disturb him.

,,Signore de’ Pazzi,” he addressed him, making him lift his gaze immediately, ,,I was hoping you might find some time to speak with me tonight.”

,,Signore degli Albizzi,” the man said after a while, standing up to show his respect to the most powerful man of Florence, even though he was the host of this entire ball and this was his home. However, he was no fool. He knew that doing anything to have the man in front of him on his good side could only turn out to be a valuable advantage for him at the end of the day. 

Andrea de’ Pazzi realized that his position in this city was not what it used to be anymore. Just a few years ago, when Florence was still ruled by Cosimo de’ Medici, he and Rinaldo degli Albizzi both held and equal share of power, a power and influence that was strong enough to secretly plot against the most powerful man in the city and slowly bring his downfall with despicable schemes and shameless machinations. And that was what he supposed would happen… until all of his plans were suddenly ruined by Rinadlo’s unexpected death and the even less expected masterfully played game of his only son, who has accused Cosimo de’ Medici of murdering his father, got him out of the way without any problems, by which he managed to achieve what he and Rinaldo couldn’t in long years, and finally seized all the power over this city for himself, meanwhile most of the men in the Council didn’t even realize how and when did it happen. Not to even mention the inexplicable amount of the dark, powerful magic that this boy has suddenly acquired, as if completely out of nowhere… it all left him with far too many questions.

So yes, Andrea de' Pazzi was aware of the fact that he was dealing with a man who was not to be trifled with under any circumstances, despite his young age and almost no experience when it came to politics and power. However, none of that seemed to stop him from getting exactly what he wanted, at all times and at all costs… and he knew that that’s what made Ogron degli Albizzi a man who could either be a powerful ally or a formidably dangerous enemy, nothing in between. And only a fool would wish to be an enemy of the man who single-handedly managed to turn the Republic into a monarchy, even though not officially, however the reality was no different than that.

,,Of course I would find time for a conversation with you, Signore,” he answered the question of the red-haired nobleman in front of him, bowing his head slightly, ,,what is it that you want to talk to me about?”

,,I would like to offer you a deal,” the young wizard said straightforwardly and looked into the deep, dark eyes of one of Florence’s most influential men, ,,you see, Signor de’ Pazzi, I’m aware of the fact that you and my father were allies, allies loyal to each other and loyal to the idea of getting rid of Cosimo de’ Medici, the only man in this city who supposed that he was powerful enough to take all the control and make Florence his.”

,,That’s right,” Anderea de’ Pazzi nodded, so far unsure of where this conversation was going.

,,I suppose then that you didn’t like the idea of our beautiful city being ruled by a single man, not when Florence is a Republic after all… or was the noble idea of equality and liberty not what made you resent the idea of the Medici family being in change of us all?”

,,I’m not sure I understand what do you mean, Signore,” the dark-haired man said, the undeniably dangerous question making him more than uncomfortable with the idea of answering. The last thing he needed now was to have the man in front of him suspecting him of wanting to overthrow his power, of wanting him to break their fragile alliance, which was now no more than a weak, pale memory, an unofficial deal in the honor of his late father, which, however, was not truly supported by anything, as nothing was certain in those days.

,,You don’t need to be afraid of answering,” the red haired wizard replied in and almost indifferent manner, ,,you only need to be afraid of lying to me. So, what’s your answer, Signore de’ Pazzi?”

,,You know that I am your ally just as I was and ally to your father. I truly hope you don’t see a reason to question that… and I assure you, I cannot imagine a reason why I shouldn’t support you and your… ambitions, when it comes to this city. I’m no fool, and I hope you realize that. There is only one good side in any conflict or any fight, and that is the side of the man who holds the biggest share of power. I am fully aware of that fact… and therefore I must assure you, that any doubts concerning my loyalty to you are completely groundless.”

Ogron could hear the subtle, yet undeniable fear in the voice of the man who was one of the few who still had enough power and influence to possibly be foolish enough to play around with the idea of questioning his rule in this city, and he couldn’t help but felt more than satisfied about the presence of that fear. Trying to gain the trust and the heart of any person was no more than a waste of time for him, as he knew better than anyone that terror was the only thing able to control people and their decisions, an icy hand holding them in a firm grasp of horror and fright, making their blood run cold whenever simply imagining the ridiculous possibility of ever trying to disobey him. Oh, and he learned very quickly how to use that fear and strike it into the hearts of the others…

,,I’m truly glad to hear that,” he said after a while, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly, giving his face a subtle, yet undeniable expression of satisfaction, ,,and now that you’ve assured me like this, perhaps you’d also like to show me that your words are truly more than just empty promises and that I can count on your support whenever would I need it in the future.”

,,And how would you want me to prove that?”

He knew that his next words were going to change a lot. That they were going to turn the life of one person, of one person who used to be very dear to him, upside down completely, that they were going to sow hatred, resentment and anger… however in his heart there was no place for some foolish sentimentality or compassion.

,,I want you to prove your loyalty to me by agreeing to the marriage of your son, Jacopo, and my sister, Ariadne,” he said straightforwardly, without any more unnecessary words, ,,I know you’ve discussed their union with my father before, and now I want you to know that my intentions regarding this matter are no different from his. I want them to get married, and I want it to be done as fast as possible.” 

He knew that Andera de’ Pazzi would not refuse. In truth, he didn’t have much of a choice, but neither did he have a reason to say no. Both of their families were in need of some support… and there was no better option for them than getting it from one other. The two most powerful families in Florence united. United under his rule and his will, united by the marriage that he knew would not make his twin sister happy at all… on the contrary, he realized that after making this decision for her, she would undoubtedly despise him for the rest of his life. 

Because the reality was that despite the fact that Ariadne was a known beauty, desired by men who were looking for a wife just as much as she was desired by the ones who already had one, and despite her age of twenty-five, when most women were already married for a long time and had children, she still refused to wed anyone, rejecting one suitor after another, breaking the hearts of too many young men already. 

However now he would not stand for that foolishness anymore, he would not let her test his patience, not for a day longer. If she wasn’t able to choose a husband for such a long time, looking for something that was just as unrealistic as it was almost laughable, he would make that decision for her and strengthen his influence by it in a way he considered was the best. 

,,It… it would be my greatest pleasure to accept your generous offer,” the dark-haired nobleman answered immediately, the relief and the pleasant surprise clearly written all over his face, ,,you can count on my full support in this matter. This union will bring our city prosperity and stability and will ensure that your rule and the rule of your family over Florence will remain unquestioned and strong for generations… and my family will never cease to support yours. In fact, I see my son right there, I think it would be for the best to share the news with him right away…”

As Andera de’ Pazzi called his son, Ogron’s gaze started wandering around the room, hoping he would spot his sister so that he could announce her the news without any further unnecessary delay, despite the fact that knowing her fiery temper he realized that perhaps it might be a risk to do so in front of the eyes of all those people around. However, she had to find out, the sooner the better, as he had different matters to take care of once he would arrive home, and so he couldn’t waste his time dealing with his sister’s outraged dissatisfaction there either.

After a while his eyes finally found her, surrounded by a small circle of her closest friends, a few young noblewomen about which she actually never cared at all, however their admiration of her beauty and their obedient loyalty to her strong personality made them useful to her in many ways. And a sudden thought crossed his mind in that moment, a realization that in some things she was just like him… and at the same time, the more years have passed, the more he started to see that they were so different. 

It didn’t last long until she lifted her gaze, almost subconsciously, and met his eyes immediately. He gestured to her to come to him, and even though she didn’t seem exactly thrilled about the idea of talking to him, which she rarely was these days, she said a few words to her friends after a while and started making her way towards him through the crowded room.

Once she reached her brother and other the other two people apparently waiting for her, she couldn’t hide the immediate dissatisfaction when she noticed that one of them was no one else than Jacopo de’ Pazzi, the man who’s been lusting for her so shamelessly and openly for so many unbearably long years. 

Her eyes met his almost immediately, and meanwhile hers were filled with contempt and disdain, his were filled with quite different things hiding behind them, his lust and desire for her clearly written all over his face and in the suggestive little smile that he gave her before his dark eyes wandered down to her plunging neckline revealing a part of her chest…

If they were alone, she would not hesitate to wipe that dirty smirk off his face, either by a quick, sharp movement of her hand hitting his cheek, or perhaps even by a dark spell that would make him pay for such a shameless display of disrespect, so that he would remember until the end of his days that no man, especially not him, would stare at her in such a lustful way without a punishment… however, unfortunately, she couldn’t do it now, not here, in front of the eyes of every single aristocrat in Florence, since that would only put her to shame, and not the man who truly deserved it.

,,Brother,” she greeted him with a short nod after deciding to ignore the desire behind the eyes of the man whom she despised beyond measure, however her words were so apparently filled with coldness and hostility, as if the genuine affection that she has always felt towards her twin-brother was now no more than just a memory, pale and fragile, buried in the past almost completely. Which wasn’t far from the actual truth.

,,You wished to see me?”

,,Yes, Ariadne,” Ogron replied without any emotion in his voice, his coldness almost equal to the one with which she addressed him, ,,there’s something that Signor de’ Pazzi and I must tell you. You and his son Jacopo.”

,,Truly? I cannot imagine what could be such a matter that you’d need to share with the both of us, as we have nothing in common and barely know each other,” the red-haired beauty replied indifferently, having a bad feeling about where this conversation might be going, however deciding not to show it in any way.

,,Perhaps you didn’t have anything in common by now,” Andrea de’ Pazzi replied with a satisfied smile which still reflected so much relief and gratitude, ,,however that is changing today and from today it will remain that way for the rest of your lives. Therefore, allow me to say that I’m truly honored to have your brother’s blessing and welcome you into my family… my dear daughter.”

The immediate shock and disbelief left her so taken aback that she wasn’t able to say anything for a few moments. Yes, she expected to hear that, she had that small, restless feeling of uneasiness inside her from the moment when she noticed the three men standing together and waiting for her to join them, and that feeling only grew stronger after her brother’s words… however to truly hear that she was to marry Jacopo de’ Pazzi, those words being said out loud and so clearly, it was something that almost made her heart skip a beat. 

However just few second later that initial shock and complete disbelief turned into burning anger and indignation. Because what the dark-haired nobleman said was not a question, a suggestion, or any form of asking for her opinion on the matter which concerned the rest of her life, and that was because this was not supposed to be her choice, this decision was already made, by him and her brother, and she or Jacopo were simply not to have any say in that.

However, based on the disgusting smirk on that bastard’s face, that only got more teasing and suggestive after his father’s words, she knew for sure he would not be the one to oppose this forced union…

,,Excuse me? Is this true, brother?” she asked after a while, turning her face to the man on her right, making sure that the dissatisfaction in her voice was expressed more than clearly. 

,,Apparently, my dear sister,” he said indifferently, looking into her eyes with ice-cold determination and with uncompromising decisiveness written all over his face.

She had to put all her effort into not showing her anger but composing herself instead. Because she knew that no matter how excruciating was her need to show her indignation, how unbearable was her desire to shout out into her brother’s face that he was no more than a dirty, selfish, despicable bastard, she would gain nothing from such a rash, fiery display of complete disrespect.

,,Then I’m truly sorry to announce this to all of you, however your plans of the alliance between our families, an alliance built on this marriage that we’re talking about, will sadly remain nothing more than plans and visions.”

,,Excuse me?” Andrea de’ Pazzi asked with shock and confusion clearly written all over his face, ,,what do you mean by that, Madonna degli Albizzi?”

,,I mean, Signore de’ Pazzi, that I will not be a pawn in the game that you and my dear brother are playing, that I will not be forced into a marriage that I don’t wish for, that I will not tolerate my brother’s complete lack of respect towards me, that he clearly expressed by making this decision for me, without having my approval or without even consulting me about it first. However, most importantly, I mean that I will not become the wife of any man whom I don’t wish to marry. And I hope you’ll forgive me, Signore, for saying that I would not marry your son under any circumstances, your son who wanted me to join him in his bed ever since I was the age when it became… acceptable to think of my body in such way, I would not marry him if he was the last man in Florence… since I feel nothing but contempt and disgust when thinking about him and his shameless, unrestrained lust after my innocence and his desire to take away my dignity.”

Her words were firm, decisive and uncompromising, and she said them with so much grace and authority as she could manage in the situation that she was in right now. And she noticed immediately that without any doubt they had the exact effect that she was hoping for. 

The complete shock written all over Andera de’ Pazzi’s face was something she relished perhaps far more than she should. She knew for sure he would never have imagined that anybody would dare to speak to him in such an honest, unforgiving, merciless way, let alone a woman. And that was what made this short moment of shocked silence even sweeter for her… since whenever she had the opportunity to show any man that she was not some kind of a weak, vulnerable, submissive little girl just because she wore a skirt, she would do so with great pleasure, enjoying every single moment of every small protest against the way that she was treated in in this world just because she was a woman. 

And the look on Jacopo’s face… that moment was sure going to be the only one in his presence that she would wish to remember for the rest of her life.

,,My deepest apologies, Signore,” she heard her brother’s voice after a while, however now it didn’t sound nearly as calm, dominant and confident as it usually did at all times, ,,I truly hope you can forgive my sister’s disrespect for you and your son, she is not feeling well tonight…”

,,Oh, I’m quite well, brother, thank you for your concern,” she interrupted him suddenly, the apparent hint of sarcasm in her words mocking and disrespecting him right in front of the man whom he wanted to become his loyal servant in the future, a servant who would never question and disobey his authority and power, which made her little mockery even more enjoyable… since that was exactly what she was doing right now.

,,Excuse us for a moment, Signore,” Ogron said, barely letting his sister finish her words, grabbing her arm immediately and starting to drag her away, trying not to make it look too forceful, however the burning rage spreading inside his chest like hot fire was not making it any easier for him.

When they stepped through the huge opened door and left the crowded ballroom, he led her with quick angry steps along a few long corridors, wanting to make sure that they were far away from all those eyes and ears that would love to see and overhear what they shouldn’t. The exact same scenario that happened to him two times already during this evening… this night that was far from going as smoothly and easily as he wanted it to. Which was only making his rage stronger and stronger by each passing second… once again he realized that nothing seemed to be under his control right now, and he most definitely didn’t like that fact. 

However, he didn’t manage to lead her too far away, since when the first opportunity came, she jerked out of the strong grip of his hands, so quickly and unexpectedly that she left him no time at all to realize what was going on…

Until, all of a sudden, he experienced a sharp, intense pain on his face, a pain caused by her hand hitting his cheek as forcefully as she managed, releasing all her burning rage and indignation in that one simple, fast, angry move.

It took a while until he realized what just happened, and until he did, he subconsciously touched his face, his fingertips brushing against the place where she hit him… and at the same time humiliated him with that gesture more than his pride was able to take. He, the ruler of Florence, the most powerful dark wizard that ever lived in this city, feared by his enemies just as much as by his allies, the man who held so much power at such a young age and made everybody respect that fact without daring to ask any questions… he was just disrespected by his own sister as if she didn’t care about any of those things at all.

,,How dare you…,” he whispered quietly.

,,How dare _you_?!” 

,,Perhaps you would like to explain your behavior, sister! Not just this one, but the one back in the ballroom as well!” he snapped at her angrily, barely keeping his voice under control.

,,Perhaps _you_ would like to explain your behavior, brother!” she replied in a tone just as angry and outraged as his, however unlike him, she had no intentions of holding back her emotions at all, ,,so this is how you treat your sister?! This is how you show her that you love her and care about her?! By stabbing her in the back, by taking away her freedom, by attempting to marry her off to a man she hates and despises more than anyone else?! You shameless bastard, I can’t believe that…”

,,Watch your mouth, Ariadne!” he interrupted her harshly, his voice trembling from the barely restrained anger and rage, ,,I’m warning you and this is the first and the last warning you’ll receive from me, don’t test my patience on this evening anymore, or you will bear consequences you won’t like!”

,,Consequences I won’t like?!” she scoffed, her words dripping with irony and sarcasm, ,,what, do you have some other ways to humiliate and betray me than by giving my hand in marriage to Jacopo de’ Pazzi, to that disgusting snake, whose lustful gaze has been following me like a shadow ever since I turned sixteen, and to do that without even asking for my permission first?!”

,,You were not able to choose a husband for yourself until now, and God knows I waited long enough while tolerating your spoiled, childish behavior and constant rejections of all the suitors that wanted to take you to be their wife, and you kept persuading me to wait and let you be the one to make that decision, a wish which for some inexplicable reason I was granting you for years. But I’ve officially run out of patience, Ariadne. You are in an age when for a woman it’s more than uncommon to remain unmarried, and so it’s a miracle that Andrea de’ Pazzi has agreed to let his son become your husband. So, I want to hear no more about this matter, you are going to marry that man and I assure you, I truly couldn’t care less about whether you like it or not!”

,,You son of a bitch…,” she said quietly, her voice filled with so much contempt and hatred that just a few years ago she could never have imagined it would be possible to resent her beloved brother so much, ,,what makes you think that you have the right to do this? What makes you think that you have the right to make me marry a man against my will? What makes you think that you can make a decision that will change everything for me, that you can make it without my permission, and what makes you think that you can just steal my freedom and my right to decide about how I want to live my life?!”

,,Perhaps the fact that that right actually belongs to me, my dear sister!” he snapped at her angrily.

,,Oh, that shameless, disgusting arrogance of men… it’s truly making me sick. Thinking that they can treat us like their puppets, like things they can trade in marriage to extend their power… it’s just what makes this world and the times we live in so unbearably… _revolting_. I will not be a tool in the hands of any man, I will not be an obedient sister or a submissive wife who gives up her own voice just to stroke the ego of the men around her!”

,,And this is why you’re such a fool,” he scoffed mockingly, ,,always trying to change the world instead of finding much easier ways to achieve what you should truly be striving for. I know you like having power and authority, Ariadne, and there’s no reason for why you shouldn’t have it. Women have many ways, perhaps even more than men, to become truly influential and take more control than anyone is aware of…”

,,Yes, by whoring themselves out to the men who can hold that power officially and then manipulating them according to their will!” she spat, the disgust in her voice clearly showing her brother that she saw through the little manipulative game he was trying to play with her and that she was not going to fall for his sweet, tempting words, ,,perhaps it is truly possible when they have no self-respect and can be satisfied with their bodies being the only source of their influence instead of trying to use their heads. I’m not that kind of a woman, Ogron, and you know that.”

,,I understand that you have pride, I understand that better than anyone. However, that pride is keeping you from getting the only thing that truly matters…”

,,The only thing that truly matters?” she spat angrily, ,,what is power even good for, when you can have it over other people but not over yourself? I can’t believe you truly said a such thing… I can’t believe that you suggested I could become a whore paid by secrets, a woman who would marry a man she despises beyond measure just so that she could manipulate him… and I’m no fool, brother, I know that if I agreed to it, in your head you’d already be plotting your schemes about how to gain power over me afterwards, and make me tell you every single one of Jacopo’s dirty secrets… because I don’t believe that there is anything you wouldn’t do at this point.”

,,This conversation is going nowhere, Ariadne. I’m not in the mood to argue with you tonight. You will go back and apologize to Andrea de’ Pazzi as well as to his son, and within a few weeks you will marry him,” he said in an ice-cold tone, turning around abruptly and wanting to leave, wanting nothing else than to have this inconvenient trouble solved as fast as possible, and to finally get this evening over with.

However, she was not ready to give up so easily. She grabbed his wrist and made him stop, taking a few steps and ending up right in front of him, her piercing light blue eyes looking up to meet his, the untamed anger and raging indignation in them making them look as if they were two burning fires of pure, passionate defiance.

,,If I ever marry somebody, it will be a man who will love me. A man who will be devoted to me, who will promise to me that he will never share his heart or body with a different woman, not while I’m alive and neither when I’m dead, a man who will care about me more than about power and who will be ready to lay down his life for me. But most importantly… a man who will respect me and see me as his equal. Who will value me for what is inside my soul and in my head, not just for my pretty face. I will settle for no less than that.”

,,You’re asking for impossible,” he said mockingly, ,,as always.”

,,Then if there is no man like that and if all of them are equally arrogant, corrupt and power-hungry, if all of them are just shells protecting and hiding their fragile pride under a pretense of authority and superiority, then I won’t get married at all!” she snapped at him, his words making her even more indignant than she was before.

,,Yes, you will! When will you finally learn to know your place, Ariadne?! Not everything it this world works according to your foolish, idealistic dreams and you can change nothing about that! You may rage against the ways and customs of these times, however it’s not in your power to do anything about it, and you’ll make a good decision if you finally stop defining the entire world around you! And if you’ll dare to defy _me_ , I’m warning you, I won’t hesitate to do anything to make you pay for it! You will be a part of this family no more, I will take your magic, which I can do in a heartbeat, since mine is much stronger, and then you can go and see what a woman alone, without having any man to stand behind her, can do in this world!” he shouted all of a sudden, every last bit of that fragile self-control, that he was trying so desperately not to lose, disappearing completely in that moment. 

For a few moments she was at a complete loss of words after his harsh, angry outburst, unable to believe and perhaps also unwilling to accept the meaning of what he’s just said. Threatening her with taking her magic, with the only real source of power she had, the strong, formidable dark magic she had inherited from her father… no, she could not have let that happen.

And at the same time, she was aware of the fact that he was fully capable of doing anything to punish the people who dared to stand between him and his plans and ambitions… however, somehow she has never though she was one of those people as well. She was his sister after all, his only twin sister whom he loved without measure before he turned into that heartless beast that he was now…

Did she truly lose in this moment? Did she truly lose this fight, did he truly leave her no choice and backed her into a corner by not hesitating to take away the only thing she could not afford to lose? She had already lost so much, her entire family, her mother and little sister, and her brother was just as dead to her as well, so was she now truly about to lose her freedom as well…?

,,It’s quite funny, you know,” she whispered quietly after a while, ,,how you resented and despised our father for how he treated us and yet, you turned out to be an even more heartless and disgusting monster than him. You changed so much on that day… in the morning I still had my brother, however in the evening he was already gone. And I simply couldn’t believe, I refused to believe that you were actually able to do such a monstrosity, that you were able to betray all you ever were… and to take the life of the person whom you loved more than life itself.”

,,Ariadne…”

,,Oh, I know you don’t like to hear about it, brother,” she interrupted him coldly, ,,it brings back too much shame and guilt, doesn’t it? Just as it should… you killed a child, you beast. And not just any child, you killed your own little sister, that sweet, innocent little girl, whom you loved and protected your entire life from the moment when she was born, to whom you were more of a father that her own father was, whom you wished sweet dreams every evening and comforted her whenever she had a nightmare, not hesitating to stay up with her the whole night if it was necessary and wait until she would fall asleep in your arms again, whom you would give the entire world if it was in your power back then… and then you stabbed that pure, trusting little child in the back, and not just metaphorically, just to fulfill your own selfish desires. To gain the power you never had, as if it was a reason good enough to give up your own humanity and kill your own heart. And from that day… I didn’t recognize you anymore. Slowly but surely, you were turning as cold as ice, you didn’t care about anything or anyone, and I realized that your soul was already changed for good by that terrible dark magic you’ve gained from that unforgivable act. You know I never forgave you for what you did… I loved Bianca as well, she was my little sister just as much as she was yours. The two of you were all I had. But you took away from me both of the people that I loved more than anything in the world… and you never even asked for forgiveness. And then, I know that our father was a despicable person, but to kill the man who gave you life, to kill him so cold-bloodedly, so mercilessly, to put poison in his wine, carefully making sure he that has no way of suspecting anything, and then just watching the life fade away from his eyes in his last moments with so much pleasure… that was just plainly cruel and wicked, and it was like that on purpose.”

He wanted to make her stop talking, he wanted to do whatever it would take just to silence those words at all costs, however he was not able to do anything, and so instead of silencing her he just listened to the anger and spite in her voice, to her complete disgust and lack of all respect towards him, the respect which, however, he knew he didn’t deserve at all at this point anyway. She reminded him of the worst crimes he had committed during those short three years, and the way she said it, together with the way something inside him reacted to those words… it felt like something in his soul was breaking, and he was completely helpless against that unknown force that took control over him in that moment.

It was as if what she said brought back all those memories of his beloved little sister, he saw her innocent blue eyes, so similar to his and yet so entirely different, he heard her sweet voice and her childish laughter, suddenly she seemed so real as if he could take her in his arms once again and hold her, so tightly and protectively, promising her that he won’t ever let anyone hurt her in any way…

And yet he knew that it was just a wishful illusion and that nothing could ever turn back time and undo the crime he’s committed. The gravest sins have the highest price… he had heard that saying so many times before, so why couldn’t he think about it when he took the life of the person who meant to him more than anyone? 

Now that decision was like a dagger in his heart, a dagger that kept pushing deeper and deeper inside him, making him bleed more and more each day, making him shed desperate tears, tears that he cried every single day when he was sure he was alone and no one could see his weakness. And those tears always got more and more uncontrollable by each second, more raw and untamed, making him feel as if his guilt was a bloodthirsty wild animal inside his chest, a beast that wanted to tear him apart in its claws from the inside to punish him for what he’s done. Alone and hidden from the eyes of the world, he was not the powerful wizards nor the feared ruler that he wanted everyone to see, he was just a broken man with nothing but a prison of remorse and shame inside his head, a dark abyss of his memories that incessantly kept dragging him inside every single day…

And three lost years have struggled on his lips in that very moment, three years lost in pride and his inability to ask for forgiveness from the only person whom he somewhere deep inside his soul still loved so much, in spite of all the darkness that has already taken over it almost completely. However, he did not have enough strength inside him to admit his mistakes and show that he was still a human, not even now, after her words have shaken him so much…

,,I think I made myself clear, Ariadne. You will marry Jacopo de’ Pazzi and respect your duties towards this family, your duties that I’ve let you ignore for much longer than I should have. You know the consequences if you disobey me.”

He knew he had nothing more to say at this point, and so he finally wanted to take his leave, more than exhausted from their emotional conversation, and he had already turned his back to her and took a few steps, however she caught his hand once again, making him stop, but not turn his face back to her this time.

,,You know that I will do it, you know because you left me no choice. And if this is who you truly want to be, this despicable, heartless bastard who had stabbed both of his sisters in the back, then I can do nothing about it. However, if nothing else, at least now I won’t have to continue suffering the fate of seeing your face every single day… but I must say, I truly pity the ones who are not as fortunate as me in this matter. I wish your wife all the best… that poor girl sure doesn’t have an easy future in front of her. Not to even mention your child that she’s carrying… from what I can see, you’ll make your son or daughter go through the exact same hell that our father has put us both through. However, you can count on one thing, brother. You will never forget me and erase me from your memory…”

,,I already have.”

,,Oh, that’s just a wishful dream,” she chuckled quietly, placing her hand on his cheek and turning his face to look at her, something about that surprisingly gentle gesture almost chilling and terrifying, as if her touch wanted to poison him with that all that fake tenderness…

When his eyes met hers, he saw that they were glowing with a strange light he has never seen in them before, almost manic flickers of insane determination, of restrained hatred, of raw fire and somehow twisted, inexplicable satisfaction were shimmering in them like small candles that were now to illuminate the dark, unwanted fate he had forced upon her… and something about that look undeniably sent shivers run down his spine.

,,Oh, brother, you will wish that I was never born as your sister. Because from this day, I promise you that I will do anything to take revenge, I will become your worst nightmare and your most formidable enemy, I will take back the freedom you stole from me, and I will destroy you while doing it, I will destroy every single thing that you care about, I will shatter your power over this city into million pieces and make sure you’re humiliated by the people, forgotten by the history and killed by your own pride… you have my word. And you know that I always keep it. And this time… oh, I’ll do anything for it, I’ll keep that word at all costs to show you that even in the world of men, a woman can have the last word.”


	26. The Shadow of Temptation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sooo right at the beginning, I want to say that I'm SO freaking sorry that this chapter took an entire eternity to upload, I'm truly sorry you had to wait for so long again, I really didn't think it would take me such a long time to write and edit it, but unfortunately, my school exams were keeping me a little busy :(
> 
> Anyway, I really hope that you'll like and enjoy this chapter, if you do, feel free to leave me a comment or Kudos, it truly keeps me motivated so much and makes me so happy, so thank you once again for all the support I've received so far from all of you, you're amazing ♥

Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t deny that he was torn. From that day, up until now. A lot has changed inside his heart, however this one thing remained the same. 

Weeks that have passed made Duman feel like a wild, untamed animal trapped inside its cage, in the cage of strange, yet not inexplicable feeling of distant guilt that always kept coming back without any mercy, returning ceaselessly every single time when he tried to banish it into the dark oblivion of his barely existing conscience. 

Conscience… didn’t that word lose its value to him a long time ago? One would think that a man who has spent centuries satisfying his rage and thirst for blood, his cruelty, his twisted pleasure coming from sadistic torture, his hatred in all its forms, that such a man had forgotten the meaning of that word a long time ago and would never try to remember it again, one would think he had buried it deep under the ghastly darkness of his soul and forsaken it for good.

However, the reality was truly not as simple as that. He did have a conscience. It was a weak, barely shining little spark, so small as if it wasn’t there at all, however its dim light provided him with the much-needed feeling that he was still a human, that the beast inside him haven’t taken over the man completely.

And that’s why it was so difficult to silence that barely audible whisper in his head, that little voice ceaselessly tormenting him with those three simple words… 

_,,This is wrong…”_

He knew that he had already decided and there was no going back. He didn’t want to go back. He wouldn’t make the same mistake twice, he was not such a fool…

_,,As if it mattered… as if the end could ever truly justify the means, as if that could ease my conscience…”_

And who knows, perhaps he was a fool after all. Not being able to let go of the love he felt towards the man who has caused him so much pain and so much suffering, who has turned him into the beast that he was now… was he not a fool that he still wanted to hold onto whatever it was that connected him to his older brother, to the man who was the only father he ever knew, however who was also definitely very far from what a real father should be? The same questions kept haunting him for days… yes, he did bring him up, he did show him how to use his magic, and far more than just that actually, he taught him how to be a powerful, formidable wizard, he taught him how to make his enemies tremble with fear in front of him, he was the first to let him take a sip from that tantalizing wine of power and limitless dark magic… and he knew that if it wasn’t for him, he would never learn to control and his powers like this and that he would never mould the abilities that he was born with into such perfection.

Perfection… oh, but how much did he hate that world. It was his brother’s insane obsession, it was the purpose of his torment for all those years, it was what he demanded from him at all costs, even at the cost of breaking the vulnerable, fragile soul of a helpless boy that he once, a very long time ago, used to be… 

Ogron thought that making him a heartless monster would make him strong. And he believed him, for a while. He gave up his own soul and most of his conscience to the powerful red haired wizard without any hesitation, just as any young, inexperienced, scared boy would, just to make sure that he would not be abandoned and left all alone once again, scared to death when just imagining that possibility. He couldn’t afford to lose his brother, no, he was his only family, all he had… and so he held onto him desperately, onto his guidance and his protection. He wanted to please so much, regardless of any costs, because he knew what the price would be if he didn’t… Ogron made it known to him very soon that he didn’t intend to waste time on useless things, and so he no matter what it took, he couldn’t become one…

No weakness, no flaws, no soft spot, no disobedience… these were the things he had always demanded from him. And even today, he could still remember their trainings when he was teaching him how to use his magic and turn it as dark and as formidable as possible, trainings which did not only involve practicing spells, oh no, it was far more than that, because their point was not only to turn his magic as dark as the night, but mostly to turn his soul that way… 

He was just a small, still innocent boy, when his brother already taught him how to use his magic for killing and torturing. At first, he didn’t make him cause suffering to humans, however even hearing the pained sounds of the animals and and seeing the fear in their eyes was a torturous experience to that little boy, whose significant part of magic was based on the fact that he was partially one of them himself…

And he could still remember how he cried for the first time when his brother asked him to do it, he cried and refused, saying that he was not able to do such a bad thing… and he could still remember the sharp pain the wizard’s hand left on his cheek when he not only tried to disobey him for the first time in his life, but also so apparently showed weakness, something, which he learned very fast that was not allowed to be shown at any time under any circumstances… 

_,,This is not a world for the weak, boy. Showing compassion will get you nowhere. You can only choose to be one of two things, either a hunter or a prey. You’ll encounter pain either way, but it’s up to you in what way will it be, whether you’ll be the one to feel it or the one to cause it. However, there is no way to avoid it. And if you are not willing to be a hunter in this world, leave at once and don’t waste my time with your useless tears, leave right now and don’t ever bother to come back…”_

Those words were engraved on his memory, on his mind, on his soul, they were with him for all those years, every single one of them… and from that day, he has never shown any kind of weakness in front of the red-haired wizard again. From that day, he has never disobeyed him. Did he ask him to kill and torture animals? He did it. Did he ask him to do the same for humans? He did it as well. He did it before even reaching the age of ten.

And so his innocent, childish soul became the clay in the hands of his brother, a clay that he moulded according to his will, and even though the young shapeshifter didn’t protest against it in any way and willingly gave up his soul to him, all that forming and shaping never seemed to have the effect his brother desired, not even after he had surrendered everything to him, not even after the only desire of his life became to please him and make him proud of him, at least in some way.

However, since that was an apparently unreachable goal… he had no other choice but to find fulfillment elsewhere. And so all the things that Ogron taught him to do, all that blood he spilled and all the pain he caused, they slowly became the only thing he was living for, the only thing that felt meaningful, the only thing he knew… a terrible, ghastly, monstrous replacement for the love and affection he craved so much.

And he couldn’t deny that there were times, many times, when he hated himself for what he has become. Because before he even met his brother, he was a just child who feared and hated pain more than anything, he was scared to death whenever he was forced to experience it, and that happened more than just a few times during his very first years… he knew more than well how did it feel to be treated like an animal. Because that was what people saw in him. They feared him because of his abilities, because of his strange magic that has shown itself before he was even able to walk and talk, they feared him because he was so different, and it wasn’t long before that fear turned into hatred and pure cruelty… and long years after, he still couldn’t understand how was it possible that the fear from the unknown could turn the hearts of all those people, including the one of his own mother, so dark and so wickedly cruel. He was just a child. But the suffering those people around him put him through… he felt as if he was born with pain, as if it was the first thing he has ever known and experienced. And that left a scar on his soul… a scar so painful that before he met his brother, he told himself he would never hurt anyone, that he would never become such a brutal, heartless animal as were the ones who made him go through so much agony at such a young age…

However, all those childish promises to himself turned out to be completely insignificant, completely naive and ridiculous, as he became the exact thing that he swore he would never become, and all it took were a few strict, demanding words from the man who was the only one who didn’t see him as a monster… and thanks to him, slowly but surely, he not only learned to cause unspeakable, horrid pain, he even learned to enjoy it… but a part of him, that innocent child who was hurt so many times, that part of him hated him for what he’s become, that little child hated him for it every single day.

His brother didn’t teach him to enjoy cruelty. Ogron has always considered having a merciless soul a valuable tool to achieve his goals, and so he taught him how to turn his heart into stone. But nothing more than that… 

However, that didn’t mean he didn’t blame him for what he’s become… he hated himself, and that was his brother’s fault. Because all of this wasn’t the result of what he’s given him… but of what he hasn’t. 

Yes, it was painful to remember. It was more than painful. However, he needed to do it, now more than ever… because he needed to fuel his anger. He needed to silence his heart, his foolish heart that was still burdened by inexplicable love he felt towards that bastard that took everything from him, even his own soul and all its innocence…

However, all of a sudden his thoughts were interrupted when he felt an unexpected touch of two warm hands gently laying themselves on his shoulders from behind, slowly sliding down his bare chest, reaching his chiseled abdomen with a tantalizing caress of light fingers, that immediately filled his head with completely different images and desires than the ones that were occupying his mind up until this moment…

Her familiar scent and the feeling of her long hair spreading across his muscular arms like a waterfall of blood made him close his eyes as a result of the unexpected pleasure, deciding he would enjoy her presence and the warmth of her body against his for a few moments longer, letting her wrap her arms around his waist from behind and allowing her lips to slowly seduce him with the gentle kisses that she was pressing along his neck and shoulders while making shivers of pleasure run down his spine….

,,Ariadne… what are you doing here…?” he asked quietly, however he didn’t even truly care for the answer at the moment.

,,Aren’t you happy that you see me?” she whispered, her breath gently tickling his neck, continuing to tantalize him even more together with her fingers that started drawing small circles on the toned muscles of his abdomen, ,,your skin is so cold… have you taken a cold shower to clear your head? That helps me calm my mind too when I need it… but then I always crave some warmth… don’t you, my love?"

He didn’t even answer, as his desire suddenly got too unbearable in that moment, making him turn around and grab her waist, pulling her body into his embrace with a sharp, unexpected movement, making their eager lips unite in a kiss filled with all those things they lost and craved so badly throughout all those centuries that they had to spend apart, filled with that excruciating, unrestrained need for each other’s touch, for each other’s presence and their intimate closeness… 

Oh, how sweetly surreal was that feeling of having her in his arms once again… so sweet and delightful because no matter how surreal it felt, this was reality. This was _his_ reality now, and he was not going to let it go, never, never again… all of his previous doubts were suddenly gone as fast as if they got blown away by the wind, by the strong, harsh wind of that passionate storm that her touch started inside his lonely, vulnerable heart, a heart starved for love, for _her_ love… 

He buried his fingers in her blood-red hair, inhaled her familiar scent deeply, allowing his lips to travel down to her neck, her collarbone, her neckline, his actions irrational and instinctive as he found himself unable to control his desires, the desires that she was tantalizingly awakening inside him every single day, always a little bit more, making him more and more vulnerable, more and more willing to fulfill every single one of her wishes… because he couldn’t deny that this woman in his arms was intoxicating his blood with a sweet, yet dangerous venom, with hot fire spreading across his veins whenever she touched him or united their desperate lips… and that fire was getting harder and harder to control each day.

The next thing he realized was that she was leading him somewhere, her heated kisses and her quiet moans making it impossible for him to even notice where and why… until her hand suddenly pulled him down with a sharp, unexpected movement, making him lose his balance and end up on the top of her body… on her body lying on his bed.

_,,No, we can’t do this… not now, not yet…”_

Her lips reached his neck, making him let out a quiet moan of pleasure…

_,,Control yourself… you can’t do this now…”_

Her lips on his, her mouth opening slightly, letting him deepen the kiss, which he did without any hesitation…

_,,Get a hold of yourself, for goodness’s sake…!”_

A quite gasp escaped her lips when she felt how his hand touched the bare skin of her chest, knowing already that this time he won’t say no to her, this time he wanted and needed her too much for that…

,,Take me, my love…” she whispered quietly, her eyes filled with flames and so much raw, undeniable lust.

Those words, those four short words, together with the turbulent riot of desire they started inside his head and in his body, they were defeating him, they were making him so weak… he had lost, it was already impossible to refuse at this moment, he would do whatever she asked from him…

,,No!” 

His sudden exclamation left him just as taken aback as it left her, however it allowed him to gather enough strength and self-control to prevent his wild animalistic instincts from taking over him for good.

He parted their bodies abruptly, straightening up and supporting himself on his knees by the both sides of her waist, his chest rising and falling uncontrollably from his quickened breaths that were the result and the reminder of his barely tamed lust.

,,Why do you do this…?”

,,I can’t, Ariadne…”

He knew that she wanted this… she’s made that known more than just once from their first encounter when it was already so hard for him to say no to her tempting request, to her hot kisses, to her eager body, to her entire tantalizing allure that was torturing him always more and more from that day, ceaselessly and mercilessly clouding his thoughts with flashing memories from the past that appeared in front of his eyes so vividly as if they had only happened yesterday, images of their pure, beautiful love exchanged through their passionate bodies…

However, he knew that this was not right. Not now, it definitely wasn’t right for now. The desire her every touch was awakening inside him was tormenting him without any mercy, that hot flame raging inside his chest like a wild animal that was eating him up alive, however he resisted. 

How could he take her now, how could he make love to her when he wasn’t even sure if love was the only reason why she wanted his body…? She hasn’t forgiven him yet, not completely, he knew it and he understood that choice better than anyone, and it wouldn’t even cross his mind to beg for her forgiveness, as he knew he didn’t deserve it. However if she wasn’t able to free her heart from the past… how could there be any space for their love? Those two things were the exact opposites, they were fire and water, how could they exist in the soul of one person at the same time? And if he knew one thing for sure, it was that he couldn’t let their love become no more than some shallow, meaningless lust, he couldn’t be satisfied with a mere shadow, a pale lie barely resembling what once used to be between them… he would rather have nothing. 

,,Why are you always refusing me…?” she asked after a while, ignoring the desperate plea in his eyes and sitting up, placing her hand on his cheek gently and making him look at her.

,,You know why… I thought you would understand. I hoped you would… however it seems that we have different priorities when it comes to us and to whatever it is that is still left between us…,” he whispered quietly lifting his lowered gaze and meeting her piercing ice-blue eyes.

,,There is nothing wrong with making love after such a long time of being apart… after all, we have promised ourselves to each other for eternity. We are practically married, we belong to one another, we are one… but I want to _feel_ that promise, Duman, I need you to show me it’s real…”

,,If it was real to you, you wouldn’t ask me to prove it to you in this way. Is my body truly everything you want, is it enough to make you happy and give you all that you desire…?”

,,No!” she interrupted his words abruptly, ,,of course not! However I can’t understand your point of view either… were you not longing for me throughout all those centuries? Didn’t you miss my touch, didn’t you miss my kisses, didn’t you miss my body at all? I don’t think that’s how it was… I can see it all in your eyes, I can see what you want, I can see how _desperate_ you are to feel me, to take me, no matter what you say… and now you can have it all, so why all that meaningless abnegation, why denying us both the one thing we both want so much…?”

She stood up from the bed, suddenly and unexpectedly, and started pacing the room with quick, nervous steps, desperation and need clearly written all over her face, in her every single movement, in her every single word…

,,Why don’t you understand… I can’t think straight wherever I’m with you, I can’t think straight even when I’m alone, I cannot make my thoughts focus on anything else than you, it’s like you’re everywhere inside me and I can’t help it that my entire mind, my entire soul and my entire body belongs to you, but at the same time I _want_ to belong to you so badly and I want you to belong to me just as much… so much that it feels like it will chase away all my sanity if you don’t make love to me right here and right now… so, for goodness’s sake, just finally _take me_ , I beg you, and make me yours…!”

He felt that her words have left him so shaken… her words, so unrestrained, so honest, so desperate, her voice breaking in the end so vulnerably, all of her raw emotions shown without any pretense or lie…

He saw in her all that he loved and adored so much, all that made him fall for her so many years ago, her wild, dangerous beauty, her strong will, her fiery passion, just as much her honest vulnerability, which she never tried to hide from him, her undeniable feelings for him, unhidden and so real…

He stood up from the bed abruptly and took a few steps towards her, wanting to pull her body into his arms and get rid of all their clothes as fast as possible to finally grant her all her wishes… however he found himself unable to even touch her. His conscience was screaming too loud… and that uncompromising voice couldn’t be silenced, not ever by her pleas and his lust.

,,No, Ariadne… I can’t. And I value your honesty, I truly do, but please, just listen to yourself. You’ve let your desire consume you, you’ve let your it become the thing that matters more than any other… and if that is all that I am to you, an object of your lust, I’ll rather be nothing than just that. Tell me… can you even say out loud that you love me? Can you say it with a clear head and a clear conscience? I tried to kill you, for goodness’s sake… and I know that such a betrayal is not something that’s forgiven so easily. But if you haven’t forgiven me, you cannot love me, not truly, not fully. So I just want to know one thing, Ariadne, I want to know the truth and nothing else… _can_ you say that you love me, can you truly say those words…?”

He saw the conflict in her light blue eyes, he saw the struggle and the fight she was putting up against herself and her torn heart, it was all reflecting in those beautiful eyes as if they were an open book that let him read in her soul, that let him read her every single thought and every single doubt. 

But could she truly say those words…? She didn’t the answer to that question herself. Yes, she loved him, her heart ached for him more than he could imagine, however perhaps he was right in one thing… her love was not what is used to be before. It was not complete, it was not what is should have been… because besides that love, there was something else in her heart as well, lingering there like a quiet shadow the presence of which kept tainting the purity and innocence of what they used to have… it was her anger, still alive and burning, always there and unable to leave, it was the scar that he left on her soul when he betrayed her all those years ago in such a terrible, monstrous, heartless way… how could she just forget and forgive? How could she just put all of that behind and leave the past in the past? That burden was far too heavy to bear, far too tormenting to just ignore…

,,You see…? You can’t. You truly can’t say it…. however, don’t think that I’m blaming you for that, I would never… I know that I don’t deserve your love.”

,,Duman… I just need some time…”

,,You’ve had centuries.”

,,Centuries I had to spend without you! Now that we’re here, together once again, everything feels different… I feel like I _want_ to forgive you. That I want to try at least… because when I first saw you after all those years, that ice I had in my heart before, whenever I thought of you, it melted away immediately, when I kissed you after those terribly long centuries all my hatred suddenly disappeared from my soul as if it was never there, and I believe that now, if we were to make love and unite our bodies once again… all my anger inside me could vanish, be suffocated by that reminder of what we still can have…”

He was quiet for a while, considering her words, however deep inside he knew he didn’t even have to do that. He was decided. And there was nothing in the world that could change his decision.

He took her hand in his, slowly lifting it until it reached his lips, his lips which he pressed against it with so much tenderness and affection that she simply couldn’t doubt the honesty of his following words and his reason for saying them.

,,I know, my love… but I can’t do this,” he whispered quietly against the back of her hand, ,,it just doesn’t feel right. I want all of our love, I want it to be true and pure just as it used to be… but there is no point in having anything less, in that case, having nothing at all is better. And once, or if, you really feel that you can truly love me, without any restraints or doubts, I promise that I’ll be yours in every single way you’ll wish me to be… just say those three words and you’ll have me.”

She was quiet for a while, hesitating and contemplating whether trying to persuade him even more could change anything… and whether she even _wanted_ to change anything at all. Perhaps she didn’t, perhaps he was right after all and this would be for the best. Because she knew that despite that fact that he said no to her, his refusal had his love written all over it… this could not have been easy for him either, seeing her there right in front of him after all those years, seeing her with so much fiery eagerness in her eyes, with her desire to give herself to him completely, and despite all that finding the strength to refuse the pleasure that her body could give him if he just asked for it…

She knew that he did it for them, for the both of them. And she couldn’t help but admired his devotion and his loyalty to all they used to have… and perhaps still could, one day. And so she knew what she had to do. It was just as he said, this was the only right way…

She took a small step towards him, pressing her body against his, however not in a lustful, passionate way, but slowly and gently, showing him that she has understood his words and agreed to them, putting her hands on his shoulders and planting a small kiss on his cheek. 

,,That day when I’ll be able to say those words, to say them with all honesty, that day will come, I promise… I can’t live without you, you have been the only thing keeping me alive ever since I fell in love with you… and I would be a fool to just let all of that go.”

After those words he buried his fingers deep into her long, soft, blood-red hair that extended below hair waist, into that beautiful hair that has always reminded him of an untamed, wild fire, and looked at her with more love and adoration glowing in his golden eyes than he could ever put into words. He knew she would understand… he knew that their love was more to her than just desire and pleasure. And despite all that has happened, he knew that she was still his and that he was still hers. 

The mark of their union, two wild, dangerous intertwining flames, suddenly started glowing with intense cold blue light on his forearm, and he noticed that it appeared on hers as well in that very moment, as if the bond of their magic that they created all those centuries ago was so inexplicably strong it could actually read his mind and hear his thoughts. As if it wanted to remind them both… they were one.

,,Until that day… I’m yours just as much as I once used to be,” he whispered, lowering his head and planting a tender kiss on her forehead, wrapping his strong arms around her, pressing her even closer to his chest.

She relished that gentle gesture of protective affection perhaps even more that she consciously realized, warm shivers running down her spine and the feeling of safety and comfort almost making her go weak at the knees… it was all like a blissful dream, a sweet, pure daydream, except for the fact that it was so much better, as all of it was real, not just some kind of a distant, intangible wish… 

She rested her head on his shoulder after a short while, wanting nothing else than just to stay like this for a few more moments at least, even though she was aware of the fact of how dangerous her presence here in his room might be. Her brother was in this very same house as well after all, and she realized that she was risking a lot coming here… however she couldn’t help herself. She needed her lover so much, and she needed him right now, she needed him so badly…

When she said that he was the only thing keeping her alive from the moment when she fell in love with him, she meant every single word. Before she met him, she only lived for revenge. Trying to make her brother’s life a living hell, making him suffer as much as possible, it was all she craved, her entire life had just one purpose, to destroy him and all that he ever cared for… however at the same time that insane longing for vengeance was her only way to deal with the broken mess she has become after experiencing the pain of fate that her brother has forced upon her all those centuries ago.

Making her marry a man she despised more than anyone was a horrible thing to do on its own, however what came after, what she had to suffer though while belonging to the twisted beast who has become her husband, it left scars on both her soul and her body, scars so painful and indelible that she thought they would never heal, scars that made her despise herself, scars that made her feel like she has lost all her worth and dignity, deep bleeding wounds that made it impossible for her to love herself again, or to see herself as somebody who could ever be loved by anyone, she was lost, helpless and alone when facing what that monstrous man has made her…

However, then she met him. That young boy whom her brother has decided to raise, deciding to become his only family, no doubt all just because of the boy’s extraordinary powers and his undeniably strong, raw magic, and that handsome shapeshifter, who subconsciously made her want to find out more about him form the very first moment she laid her eyes on him, he changed everything and she owed him for that more than she could ever be able to repay. He made her realize that she still had her worth, that her scars didn’t define who she was, he saw the beauty where she only saw disgust and hatred, he slowly healed her wounds and he let her heal his… yes, alone they were both just broken, lonely souls, however somehow what they created together managed to become something beyond perfection. They loved one another completely, not just the beautiful, desirable parts of each other, no they loved each flaw, each imperfection, each scar…

,,Getting lost in thoughts…?” his quiet voice suddenly interrupted her the middle of recalling all those memories, painful and beautiful at the same time.

She nodded into his neck and couldn’t refrain from planting a small kiss on his skin, feeling the heat and the quickened heartbeat underneath her lips immediately. 

_,,Oh for goodness’s sake, how am I supposed to control myself when I feel how much he longs for me? He can try to hide it but that will change nothing about his desires, those raw, passionate desires that make mine even less tamable… but no, no I can’t do this… I can’t torment him like this, I can’t seduce him into doing something he doesn’t feel is right… into something I myself know is not right.”_

,,I’m sorry…,” she whispered after a while and rested her head on his shoulder once again.

,,You don’t need to be,” he replied, trying his best to forget the dangerous flame that her light touch has ignited inside him so effortlessly and so inevitably, ,,… won’t you tell me what were you thinking about?”

,,All the reasons why I can’t give up until I have my brother’s blood on my hands,” she answered immediately, the tone of her voice changing in a heartbeat, expressing regret no more and turning it into deep, intense anger.

He couldn’t deny that the way in which something inside him reacted to those words made him feel so many doubts all of a sudden, once again… how come he simply couldn’t get rid of that incessantly returning idea that this was not right? She wanted to have his brother’s blood on her hands, and he understood that completely after all he’s done to her… however could _he_ wish for the same thing? Was this what _he_ wanted? Living with the torturous regrets that he betrayed and destroyed the man who saved his life and raised him, who has been his family for all those years…?

,,I hope you’re not having second thoughts,” she said after a while, and he immediately noticed the anger in her voice, the indignation that she tried to hide, however without any success.  
,,Honestly, Ariadne… I’m still not sure whether I can do this,” he sighed, feeling how her body that rested against his up until now suddenly pulled away from him with a sharp, abrupt movement right after those words escaped his lips.

,,Of course you can…,” she whispered, taking his face into her hands gently, making his golden eyes filled with doubts and uneasiness meet hers, ,,there is no reason why you should feel regrets from such a decision. You owe _nothing_ to that man, Duman. When will you finally realize it?”

,,Nothing?” he scoffed quietly, ,,well, if you call my life nothing, I suppose we could put it that way…”

,,Yes, he saved your life. But what has he done after that? What has he ever done for you, other than turning you into a man who despises himself and all that he’s become? Other than trying to make your heart as cruel and ice-cold as his own, calling that strength and calling love a weakness? Now tell me, if we don’t do this, do you just plan to continue living your life as his slave, a slave whom he fooled into thinking he’s his brother, however about whom he doesn’t care at all, do you want him to rule over your future, to make you do his dirty work of killing and torturing whomever he tells you to, do you want to let him turn you against me once again…? Because if that’s the case, then I want you to tell me right now. I already had my heart broken once, Duman, and it still hasn’t healed completely. So, if you so much as consider the thought of choosing that bastard over me once again, be honest with me. Say it. Say it, and I’ll be gone forever, I won’t get between you and your conscience, however you can be sure that I won’t return to you ever again. Not because I want to take revenge and punish you for your decision, but because I already gave all of myself to you once and then lost it all, and… you know I’m am willing to take care of your heart, if you just let me, however I have _my_ heart as well, a heart that I must protect and take care of just as much. I can’t let it get broken, teared apart and tossed away over and over, all just because of your wavering loyalty and your inability to decide with whom do you want spend the rest of your life. And you know that if you don’t want to come with me, I’m not making you, I would never force you into anything. But in that case, I only ask one thing of you… don’t give me hope, when you already know that there is none…”

He heard how her voice broke slightly at the end of her words and that sound was like a dagger pushing itself deep inside his vulnerable, unprotected heart. No, there was no way he would do this once again… not when all that his entire soul longed for was to love her, to protect her, cherish her, make her feel safe and adored, make her feel the fact that he was aware of for centuries, however about which he maybe never fully let her know… the fact that she was the blood in his veins, the air in his lungs, the only thing keeping him from getting completely lost in the vast darkness of his tainted soul… she was the only thing making him feel like a human, she, who witnessed his most wicked, cruelest sides, she, who knew he was a twisted monster who enjoyed pain and suffering, she, who saw every single bit of that dark abyss inside his soul, a soul that was revolting even to its owner, and yet she still saw him as somebody who deserved to be loved…

She was a flower in the world of thorns. If he knew something without any doubts, it was this. However, was he able to keep that flower alive, to have it blooming in his hands, when it only wished to be watered by blood, by the blood that ran though the veins of the very same man whom he couldn’t stop loving in a way he couldn’t love anyone else?

Because even though for the last few days he was only able to recall all those times when his older brother has hurt him, all those times when he didn’t show him any love or affection when he need it the most, he couldn’t deny that some of the memories weren’t so painful at all… no, some of them were different, safe and gentle, beautiful even… there must have been a reason why he wasn’t able to give up on the man who raised him after all.

He remembered the first time when he got hurt in a fight, when he got injured so much, deep cuts, bruises all over his body and even some broken bones tormenting him with that terrible, excruciating pain, all because he tried to prove to his brother that he was able and more than eager to help him fight his enemies, that he would do anything for him, that he would make him proud of what he’s become, of his magic and his abilities… however he was just a boy, way too young and inexperienced to truly understand the danger he got himself into when trying to defeat a powerful witch, whose name he didn’t even remember by now, and who possessed a magic so dark and dangerous, that even his brother longed for it with his insatiable hunger for all that was powerful and extraordinary. 

However he, so naive and overconfident, he wanted to fight her himself, so that he would finally earn the much desired admiration and respect from his brother, hearing him say that he was proud of him and all that he learned, that he was not a disappointment to him after all… however in the end all turned out quite differently, and he didn’t get what he first wanted, but he got something far less expected and far more needed instead…

He remembered how he thought that the red-haired wizard was going to be so furiously angry with him after he just barely managed to save his life, that he was going to scold him so harshly and strictly for being such an irresponsible fool, letting him know that he was just an utter disappointment, a complete disaster unworthy of his leadership and protection… however he saw no rage inside those ice-cold eyes once they finally got back to safety. All he saw in them was fear, such raw, intense fear mixing with concern clearly written all over his face, and he didn’t even manage to apologize for his foolish actions before he suddenly found himself in the arms of his brother, in his arms wrapped around him so protectively as if the mere idea of him getting hurt again was something that he couldn’t even bear to imagine… 

And when he told him off for his actions, still holding him in his tight embrace, his voice wasn’t angry or indifferently cold, it was filled with so much worry and concern, both in such a surprising contrast to his words, his words that would otherwise sound very much strict and unforgiving, however the tone in which he said them made Duman feel like it was more of an apology, like his brother was rather expressing his regret over what’s happened than he expected him to be the one to apologize and beg for his forgiveness. 

And then, even less expectedly, he insisted upon taking care of his wounds, which was truly something that the shapeshifter wasn’t quite able to believe in the moment when he heard those words, since it never happened, not even once, that his brother would be willing to do something like that for him. After their trainings, when Ogron was teaching him how to control all forms of dark magic, Duman got hurt more than just once, it happened quite often actually, however the red-haired wizard never seemed to consider that his problem. He never got hurt this seriously, of course, but still… that offer came as quite a shock after all that cold carelessness that he was used to up until then.

Memories like this one were the ones that he was holding onto so desperately during all those years, memories that he never wanted to let go of, memories he could not allow himself to forget under any circumstances… he didn’t have much of them, yet the few that he had were like small, pristinely pure diamonds, that couldn’t be damaged by the sharp, broken pieces of his heart, his heart shattered so many times by the very same man that gave him those beautiful, desperately beloved memories…

He had his reasons to love him. There weren’t many, however every single one of them felt like the most essential part of who he was… who would he be without his brother? How could he live his life without him by his side? He has always been a part of him… so could he truly manage to let go, because perhaps he realized that Ogron had no place in his life anymore? He was a child no longer after all, he was a man and he should have been able to make such decisions for himself a long time ago, however he somehow never had the courage. Even now, the mere idea of losing his brother felt as if he was going against all that he ever was, tearing himself apart in a strange, painful, self-tormenting way…

,,I suppose I can take your silence as an answer.”

Her voice suddenly interrupted him in his thoughts and brought him back to reality, the reality that he now had to face, regardless of the fact that he had no idea how. 

He saw her turning her back to him slowly, after he caught a short glimpse of a shadow of sorrow and pain on her beautiful face… 

He grabbed her wrist instinctively and pulled her into his arms with a sharp, abrupt movement, their bodies colliding with a force that left them both breathless, the flame inside his chest finding its equal in the gaze of her piercing, intense eyes…

,,I won’t lose you. Not again,” he said, his voice decisive and uncompromising.

Just when she felt she already lost all her hope, he shocked her with this gesture, so passionate, so possessive, so desperate… oh, and did she enjoy every single moment of being held against him so tightly, his strong arms leaving her no choice but to remain in his embrace… oh, and did she love to feel it that she was his, only his and he was hers, and she knew that he loved it just as much, so there was only one thing she could do now to fan that fire inside him and make him succumb to his desires…

_,,I know I said I wouldn’t… but I cannot resist…”_

All of a sudden, she laid her hands on his bare chest, but before she could even get to enjoy the fact that his skin was so heated and his heartbeat so intense, she pushed him away forcefully and freed herself from his strong arms immediately.

,,Then prove to me that you want me more than anything,” she said firmly, looking up to meet his eyes, the tone of her voice commanding and uncompromising, ,,but if you can’t, don’t you touch me like that _ever_ again…”

She didn’t even manage to finish her words when she suddenly felt his fierce lips against hers, his hands grabbing her waist and pulling her against him once again, and she moaned into their passionate kiss before opening her mouth slightly to let him deepen it…

She got what she wanted way sooner than she thought she would. And now she knew it wouldn’t take much to finally convince him that she is what he wants more than anything in the world, all she would have to do was to take a few steps backwards, then fall down on the soft bed underneath her, not letting go of him for a single second and dragging him down with her, his body ending on the top of hers like the last time, and then she knew he would take care of the rest…

If he took her now, she knew that she would win. Not just because she would satisfy her desires… but mainly because she would finally make him see why he wanted her, why he should let go of everything so that the could be together, why her brother could never replace her in his life, not in a single way… oh, she had so much power over him already, however giving herself to him would make that power truly limitless, it would turn it into something so strong that it could defeat his wavering heart and make him decide he wanted it to belong to her once and for all, this time without any hesitation…

And he didn’t fight it at all this time when they ended up on his bed once again, his passionate lips against her neck, his body between her legs, his hand traveling down from her hair to her collarbone and below…

_,,Now I’ll finally make him see everything clearly, and after we’re done… oh, he won’t even think about returning to that bastard and giving him his loyalty once again. He will only have me, he will only be able to think of me and all that I’ll give him now… but I won’t give him everything, no, I’ll leave him hungry for more so that his mind won’t waver ever again… this is the weapon that will finally kill my brother in his heart and make him mine only. Oh, why couldn’t I see it before that sex is such a powerful tool after all, I could have spared myself a lot of words and vain effort if I only realized it sooner that this is perhaps the only thing that will make him force Ogron out of his soul and his heart, and finally give both of them to me…”_

She realized her thoughts only in a rather subconscious way, far too blinded by lust to be able to think them through and ask herself whether they were thoughts she wanted to have in the first place…

However, it the moment when his hands reached her clothes, wanting to get rid of them as fast as possible, she felt as if the realization of what was going on in her own mind left her in a sudden breathless shock...

,,Wait!” she exclaimed, her own demand sounding shockingly unexpected even to herself.

He stopped in his actions immediately, however she could see the confusion and concern in his beautiful golden eyes when they met hers not even a second later.

And she suddenly felt so much guilt for stopping him now, seeing all that desire that he was just barely holding back, that flame that she ignited inside him taking over him so clearly, however she couldn’t let him continue. 

She was such a fool, such a shameless, despicable person… how could she have done something like this? Were those dirty, disgusting thoughts truly hers? How could she… did she really desire to make love to him in order to manipulate him, to make him hers and force him into giving his loyalty to her as an exchange for pleasure she could give him? When she realized that she thought of making love to him as a tool of power that she could control him with… it was all more wrong than she could describe by words, the tormenting guilt immediately forming inside her heart like a sharp thorn wounding her soul painfully and punishing her for abandoning her conscience like that, for thinking of doing this to the man whom she loved more than anything…

As if love had anything to do with power. As if controlling him and trying to make him hers at all costs would give her anything… anything other than a shadow and a shallow lie. As if giving him her body was supposed to be a way to make him love her more than anything, as if making love should be done in order to gain affection and loyalty and not as a result of it…

,,What’s wrong, my love…?” she heard his quiet whisper, his warm breath tickling her neck, his soft fingers touching her face and caressing it gently, ,,please, don’t torment me like this… you said you wanted me, so now you can have me. You’ve won, yes, I surrender completely, I’m willing to do anything you want me to, but as an exchange I only beg you to let me take you right now…”

,,Duman… I’m so sorry,” her quiet voice broke before she managed to say anything more and she found herself unable to hold back the tears that formed in her eyes and blurred her vision, letting them roll down her cheeks immediately.

,,Ariadne… what is going on?” he asked, his voice full of so much worry and concern all of a sudden, every single bit of his previous wild lust and uncontrollable desires diapering completely the moment when he saw the tears on her beautiful face, his hand instinctively wiping them away immediately.

She didn’t answer for a while, so he lied down on the bed beside her, his body aching to be on the top of hers once again, however his entire heart aching even more to just be there by her side and take her in his arms, so gently and protectively, so that’s exactly what he did, allowing her to hide her face in the side of his neck and letting her draw comfort from his embrace for as long as she would need it.

,,Please, my love, I don’t understand…,” he whispered into her hair, planting a small kiss on the top of her head, ,,have I done something wrong…?”

,,No, of course you haven’t,” she answered immediately, pulling back a little so that she could look into his eyes, ,,please, don’t think that any of this is your fault… it’s only and only mine. I should never have forced you to do this… I should never have continued seducing you, day by day, after you clearly said you didn’t want this, and mostly I… I should never have considered it, not even for one second, that I would make love to you just to manipulate you and blind you with so much desire that you would not be able to think about anything else than me, and so that you would choose me over Ogron… I should only want to earn your loyalty, not try taking it without giving you any other choice. I want to be the one you choose because of love, not because of lust… however I almost made you take me just so that I can have you and all of your devotion for myself. Now you see, I’m truly am a terrible person… I don’t deserve you…”

,,Don’t say that,” he said quietly, pressing his lips to her face and tasting the tears that kept rolling down her cheeks, ,,you haven’t done anything so terrible, Ariadne… all of us face all sorts of temptations, I would know better than anyone, do you truly think I would judge you because of that? You at least didn’t give in to it… which is far more than I can say about myself and my much darker, much more twisted cravings that I wasn’t able to resist so many times in my life. So please, please just stop crying… I can’t bear to see you like this. It hurts more than any pain I could experience myself… and this is not even a reason for so much distress, not in my eyes at least, and it shouldn’t be in yours either…”

When he buried his hand into her hair and pulled her face closer, his lips touching her closed eyelid so tenderly, sending pleasant shivers and comforting warmth down her spine, she couldn’t help but felt even more guilty in that moment. He couldn’t understand the reason for her tears now… and the truth was that he could never.

He could never understand because he didn’t know the entire story, he didn’t know that this feeling of shame caused by her despicable thoughts wasn’t nearly the only thing that made her cry so helplessly, not even the most significant perhaps, not the most tormenting…

There was a place in her past, a memory that was still so alive and vivid, there was something she’s done, something so twisted and so revolting she never ceased to hate and despise herself for that, a dark act that still kept haunting her in her nightmares, even up to this day, no matter how hard she tried to forget it for centuries… 

There were two things she regretted more than anything she’s done in her life, and she regretted them with all her heart, regretted them as much as she could, day and night, even if just subconsciously, however they were always there, constantly lingering somewhere there in the back of her mind. 

One of them was taking the life of a person she’s never even met. Yes, it was strange, she killed so many people throughout all those centuries and her hands were certainly covered in so much blood that it could never be washed off, however killing this one person, whose name she didn’t even know, whose face she didn’t even see, it was something she wasn’t able to forgive herself for, not even up until this day… she had her reasons. And Duman was the only person who knew about that sin and those reasons, apart from him she’s never told a single soul, and just as always, he didn’t judge her for it, his love and affection for her didn’t waver whatsoever after she told him, and he was always there for her whenever that guilt grew so strong that she was unable to deal with it…

However, there was one another thing. A thing too dark and too twisted, the only thing she would wish to erase from her past more than anything else if she had the chance… it was something that not only resulted in so much pain and suffering for others, that shattered the entire world of two people completely… no, it also left her own dignity and her own soul so wounded and so broken, and she wasn’t able to forgive herself for that act for centuries. And what was even worse, not even Duman knew anything about it… but she would never tell him, how could she? Yes, they promised to keep no secrets from each other, however this one was an exception, something she would take into her grave and not utter a word about it throughout her entire life. And in fact, if there was one person who couldn’t’ find out about it, it was Duman. Oh, if he only knew what she was capable of, what a revolting monstrosity she’s done… he would never look at her the same way again. Perhaps he wouldn’t even be capable of loving her anymore at all…

However, there was one person who knew. One person who was affected by that terrible crime she’s committed. Her brother. And oh, did he hate her for what she’s done… if he still had some faint, intangible remains of love for her in that cold heart of his up to that point, after what she’s done they have definitely been burned down to ashes in that intense fire of hatred and loathing, a fire strong enough that it then fueled his need for revenge and his desire for her blood for long, long centuries.

And if he knew about her relationship with Duman… oh, she knew he wouldn’t hesitate to use that thing against her, she knew that for sure. The only reason why her lover didn’t know about it already was definitely only because Ogron had yet no reason to tell him, and maybe also because it certainly wasn’t something that he would want to share with other people either. Since even though it wasn’t his fault, his involvement in that very matter still must have made him feel quite disgusted with himself for long years, his feelings and thoughts probably quite similar to hers… 

And now, what she has almost made her lover do, almost breaking his will and almost making them both dishonor their love by such a shallow act of purely physical desire… it suddenly brought back all those memories of that terrible thing she’s done, it brought them back in a way she could never explain or talk about… not a single soul could know what she’s done. Not a single one.

It took a few minutes, however eventually her quiet sobs ceased and her tears, that until then were carefully wiped away by tender fingers and soaked up by gentle lips, stopped rolling down her cheeks as well. 

Duman didn’t understand the reason for those tears, even though he tried to figure it out during that entire time when he was holding her shaking body in his arms protectively, one of his hands wrapped around her waist tightly, his fingers caressing the exposed parts of her soft, pale skin. 

He knew that there must have been something more to this than she was telling him… he knew her far too well to see when she wasn’t revealing the entire truth to him. However, what could be that thing that she was so apparently trying to hide from him, he truly couldn’t imagine. At the same time though, it didn’t matter as much for the moment. The only important thing was that she was there in his arms, willing to forgive him for what he’s done if he gave her enough time to deal with her scars, even willing to let go of what she desired so much in order to protect the purity and innocence of their love… and all of that could only mean one thing, that she decided to put her trust in him, or at least she was trying to, and he was convinced that that very decision would also lead her to tell him about the thing that she was so distressed about, that she would reveal it to him in the end… they promised to keep no secrets from each other after all.

And as they were lying there in each other’s arms, without a single word interrupting the peaceful silence and the sound of their breaths, his mind gradually started wandering, moments from his past returning to him once again, flashing before his eyes like a blurred picture of memories and feelings, like a confusing story that couldn’t be put into words and that awakened some raw, conflicting emotions inside him like, just like a single spark igniting a dangerous fire in a matter of a few moments. 

If his memories were more something of a mixture of intertwining emotions than they were rational thoughts, he knew that there was one feeling that screamed louder than any other, one that made all the other ones seem small and insignificant, that suffocated all of his ability to think straight or to make some sense of this confusing picture of his own story inside his head.

The indescribable despair he felt so many years ago when he was holding her body covered in red blood, red blood that was flowing from her deep wounds and painted the pristinely white snow in its terrifying dark shade, his uncontrollable sobs, his loud screams, his unspeakable pain and excruciating regrets, it made him feel as if he was trapped in a place from where there was no escape, in a place where slowly but slowly but surely he would be dying more and more each day until there would be nothing left of him, nothing else than an empty shell, just a body without a soul, and he was the only one to blame for all of that. When he killed her, when he chose to obey his brother and silence his heart and conscience, he knew that an act like that would have its consequences, he knew he would have to pay a high price, perhaps higher than he was able to… and he was right, as what came after was no better than hell itself, he was alone, he was tormented by regrets and by his inability to forgive himself for long, long centuries, and haunted in his nightmares by the memory of her dead body in his arms, her white skin and deep, red wounds…

And then that constant pain transformed into anger. So much anger that he wasn’t able to get through a single day without despising himself. He couldn’t take a breath anymore. That rage grew so strong that he forgot what other emotions felt like. And it was just hatred and agony tearing him apart from the inside, devouring him alive, making him burn it the flames of that terrible inferno inside his soul…

So what would happened now if he chose his brother over her once again? Would it end the same way as it did before, or perhaps even worse…? If he knew one thing for sure, it was that he wouldn’t survive going through the same suffering once again.

Perhaps the way in which he was thinking about his situations now was selfish, but then, what did it matter? Both options that he had, his lover or his brother, they were the same in one way, as choosing one or another would be selfish. He didn’t want to lose either of them. However, there was no way out of this choice this time… and if he had to decide, it was suddenly as clear to him as day that there was truly only one right person for him. It was time to let go of the past and all the subtle strings of emotions that were attaching him to it. 

,,I know what I must do, Ariadne,” he broke the silence after a while, ,,you’re right, you were right all along, I was just too blind, too scared maybe, to be able to see it… I will go with you, this time I truly promise you. I know that if I’m ever to be really free, I must first free myself from having my heart attached to him, to my brother whom I foolishly wasn’t able to stop loving, despite of how broken he left me. I have a few memories with him that I’ll take with me and that will probably torture me day and night from now on, memories of the good things, the moments that I don’t want to forget… however they are all I want to keep. My brother is dead to me, my love. I’ll give up on him completely because of you… because I would have to be a complete fool to trade all your love for his coldness and carelessness, choosing him once again… it’s not a mistake worth repeating. He was my family, and so was Gantlos, however now I’m decided to leave them both in the past… and I want my only family to be you.”

She didn’t say anything for a while, however as she looked at him, her eyes have told him everything. There was no need for words at all, since none of them could ever express what she felt in that moment. Hope, peace, safety and comfort… it was like the first rays of sun finally gently caressing her face after a long, wild storm of their scarred pasts.

She leaned towards him and planted a tender kiss on his lips, not a kiss of passion, but a sweet, innocent, long kiss, a touch so deep and meaningful… a touch that was a symbol of a promise. A promise that now she knew neither of them would break ever again.

,,Thank you…”

,,You have nothing to thank me for,” he interrupted her immediately, tucking a few strands of her blood-red hair behind her ear, ,,I should have done this a long time ago.”

,,Well, I suppose it’s better late than never,” she replied, suddenly chuckling a little to lighten the atmosphere, which subconsciously made him show a small smile as well, something she hasn’t seen on his face for a very long time indeed. And truly, he didn’t even remember how does it actually feel to have some distant, yet undeniable hope for happiness, how does it feel to know that from now on he might have everything he’d ever need, that he would never desire anything else if they could only truly manage to be together in a way they wanted to… yes, she was the only light in his life, but he didn’t even ask for anything more, nor for a past better and less painful than he had. The light shines more brightly in the darkness after all…

,,You know that if we are to be together,” she interrupted his thoughts after a while, sitting up on the bed suddenly, ,,we can’t delay our plan any longer. We must steal that girl’s power and we must do it as soon as possible, we can’t lose a single day and continue living in the danger that Ogron will find out about us. He felt my magic inside you after all, right after I saved your life… and if you still haven’t given him a good reason to believe that he should have no suspicion because of it, which you probably didn’t, then I know for sure that he won’t fully trust you and he will try to figure it all out, although he will try to pretend he has simply forgotten about it. But be certain that hasn’t… he never forgets it when he doubts someone’s loyalty. And now, that he has a suspicion that despite of everything he tried to do I’m still alive and that you have something to do with me… well, my brother is many things, but he certainly isn’t a fool. He won’t let you deceive him for too long before he’ll find out about everything. So we must act now…”

,,Yes, but how do we do that?” he interrupted her suddenly, sitting up as well by her side, ,,you said it yourself that there is no way either of us could ever acquire her magic. It’s a power of sheer goodness and light… the exact opposite of what our powers come from. We could never…”

,,You’re right, it’s true,” she sighed, lowering her head and covering her face with her palms, ,,if I could only figure that out… I don’t know what we should do in order to steal that magic form that girl, however what I do know is that it’s the only way for us. And if we won’t find out what to do soon enough, we may end up enjoying our love for a much shorter time than we would like to…”

,,That won’t happen,” he said in a calming tone, putting an arm around her waist and letting her lean her back against his chest, ,,don’t think like that. I’m not losing you again.”

,,What happened to that girl anyway?” she asked immediately, trying so desperately to silence the voice of doubts and restless worries inside her mind, turning her head to look at him, ,,the last time when I saw her she was barely alive after having to endure your torture… but since then, I know nothing about her.”

,,Well, you’re not alone…,” he sighed, ,,I have no idea either. The only thing that I know is that my dear brother has decided to lock her up in his room for some inexplicable reason, keeping her there day and night, barely letting her walk out of there at all. I truly don’t understand… what are his plans with her? And just why on Earth would he lock her in his room out of all places he could choose to imprison a fairy in…? She should be useless for him by now anyway, I’ve taken her power, so he should think she’s worthless…”

All of a sudden, his words made her understand. It made her understand something he couldn’t. All of a sudden it was as clear as day after what he said, now all of a sudden, she felt she might have an answer to all their problems, as an idea has appeared in her mind… a possibility. No, more than just a possibility. She was almost convinced… yes, it had to be this way. And if she was right… if she was right, that would not only provide answers for Duman’s questions and confusion, it would most importantly provide and answer and a solution for their seemingly entirely hopeless situation…

,,Only if what he seeks are not her powers anymore… but something entirely different that she can give him. Only she…”

,,What are you talking about?”

She knew that it was not a good idea to tell him now. He might have chosen to abandon and betray her brother, he might have already seen all the reasons why that man deserved his hatred and contempt, however something was telling her that if he was to find out about this now, he might have a lot of trouble accepting it. Oh, if he knew that his brother was undoubtedly sharing his bed with a fairy… she knew he wouldn’t be able to hide his rage and his raw, dangerous anger. He had his reasons to hate fairies perhaps more than anyone else… he did have reasons, good reasons indeed. However, he had to keep Ogron’s trust, at least partially, for as long as possible… and surely looking at him with barely restrained anger and contempt flashing in his eyes would not help him achieve that goal in any way. 

She hated keeping things from him… however now there was no other choice. He would find out eventually anyway… she just had to make sure he found out at the right time, or all that they now had a chance to achieve might be lost for good.

,,You’ll know soon enough, but I can’t tell you now…”

,,What do you mean you can’t tell me now?” he asked, shock and disappointment intertwining in his voice so clearly, ,,I thought we’re doing this together, Ariadne. Do you truly trust me so little…?”

,,That’s not it,” she sighed quietly and lifted her gaze to meet his golden eyes, ,,but you have to believe me, it’s for the best that you don’t know about it for now. I’m doing this for the both of us… I do trust you, Duman, despite everything I really do, but now I’m asking you to do the same for me.”

He hesitated for a while, however something about her words, something about her voice, so decisive and yet so gentle, made believing in her and in her plan easier that he first thought it would be. He didn’t like the fact that she was keeping something from him, especially something that seemed to be so important, that might be the key to making their entire plan work… but if she was so convinced that not telling him was the best choice, he would not stand in her way. After all, if they truly wanted to love each other in the way they once used to, they should be starting with little things… and trusting each other was certainly something they would have to learn again if they were to spend the rest of their lives together, just as they wanted it so much. 

,,Alright then… I trust you,” he said quietly after a while, planting a small kiss on her temple and on her shoulder right after, ,,do what you think is right.”

,,Don’t worry, my love, it will all work out just how we want it to…” she whispered, enjoying the warm shivers that his touch sent down her spine once again, ,,but now, there is one more thing you should know about…”

,,What is it?” he asked quietly, placing a hand on her cheek and slowly turning her face around so that he could peck her forehead tenderly. 

Oh, he truly couldn’t get enough of the feeling that she was there, in his arms again, and he could hold her, touch her, kiss her, as if that terrible thing he’s done to her so many years ago didn’t happen at all… they might have decided not to share a bed for now, neither to show too much passion for each other, as it would certainly only lead to them uniting their bodies way too eagerly and way too soon, however that didn’t mean he would give up small pleasures like this, and after all those years he had to spend without her, he knew that nothing was going to keep him now from showing his affection at least through these subtle, gentle gestures. 

,,For my plan to work out, we will need somebody who will gain that little fairy’s trust,” she said after a while of enjoying his lips on her skin, ,,that’s the only way we’ll be able to lure her into a trap…”

,,I suppose you’re not talking about either of us,” he chuckled quietly, ,,that girl will probably quiver with fear in my presence for the rest of her life, and you… well, I can’t imagine that your striking family resemblance with Ogron would make her very inclined to trust your intentions either. But still… do you really think that brining someone else into this is a good idea? I would rather not rely on anybody’s help. Betrayal is the last thing we need to deal with right now…”

,,This man won’t betray us, my love. You can count on that… I made sure of it.”

,,How can you be so sure?”

,,Because I made him indebted to me. And trust me, he will do anything for me now, anything to repay that debt…”

,,Can you at least tell me who are you talking about? Do I even know that man?” he asked, his doubts and concerns clearly written all over his face, his unwillingness to put their fate into anybody else’s hands more than apparent from the worried tone of his voice.

,,Oh, you do know him indeed… your brother Anagan will play an important role in our plan and will help us achieve what we want, all while being aware of nothing at all…”


	27. Deceiving Whisperings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING, PLEASE READ: This chapter once again contains some pretty serious mature content, it mentions sex, rape and sexual violence, again it's not exactly explicit or graphical and it's focused more on Roxy's and Ogron's thoughts and emotions when it comes to these things, however this topic might still be uncomfortable or triggering for some readers, so please consider whether you want to read this chapter if you might be one of them. Also, I strongly advise people who are under 18 not to read. And btw, sorry that this chapter is again quite dark and serious, however I needed to write it this way, because it's important for the plot that I've already made up in my mind... sorry to all the readers who would like to see Roxy's and Ogron's relationship going in a different way, however don't worry, it might take some time, but nice parts will come as well :D
> 
> And now that I've informed you about the following mature content, I just want to say I'm soooo sorry once again guys that I've let you wait for so long for the next update, this time I have no excuse, I was simply a little lazy when it came to editing... so I apologize :(
> 
> Anyway, thank you all so much for your amazing support, it really really really means sooo much to me, all your comments and Kudos keep motivating me to continue writing, so if you like this chapter feel free to let me know by writing me a comment, it will make me super happy, or by leaving a Kudos, for which I will also be extremely grateful. Love you all ♥

Her heavy breaths intertwining with his were the only thing that she could hear as she was lying there on that soft, comfortable bed, in the room that over the last month has become the worst place where she could imagine to be, the room in which she experienced so much pain and humiliation that it felt like she couldn’t even remember the person she used to be before, the room in where the things he forced her to do changed her heart, her mind and her soul completely, scarring each part of her and leaving it with painful wounds that she knew would never heal.

Roxy tried to focus on the sound of her own breaths, forcing her mind not to think about anything, forcing it to forget what she just went through once again, forcing herself to pretend that the painful scars on her soul and her body didn’t exist, pretending that she wasn’t affected by the things he was doing to her every single day, that she wasn’t affected by them at all… oh, but who was she trying to fool? Him or her? They both knew it was not true… they both knew what an ordeal she was going through, they both realized that it wouldn’t be long until she broke completely…

That was exactly what he wanted. Breaking her once and for all, breaking her will, shattering her defiant resistance, taking away the last bits of her dignity that she was trying to hold on to so desperately, he wanted her to succumb and become his completely… because that bastard realized that until she had the will to fight, she would never belong to him, not truly, not in a way that matters.

But did she even want to fight anymore…? All that defiance and resistance have brought her so much pain and suffering already, did she truly want to go through even more? Was her dignity, or more like the small shreds that were left of it, worth this enduring this torment? The longer she would refuse the give him what he wanted, the more determined he would be to force her to give it to him anyway… 

Over the past month when he was taking her against her will every single night, she learned a way how to make the things that that bastard was doing to her significantly less enjoyable for him than he wished them to be. The way she fought him was something he truly didn’t expect and that he didn’t know how to deal with. Because instead of trying to defend her body physically, instead of vainly trying to defend it against something that was inevitable anyway, instead of obeying her first instincts that were telling her to try to pull away whenever he touched her, she simply didn’t do anything, she didn’t even try to resist when he was forcing himself upon her, not even once. 

She let him rip her clothes off and drag her to the bed without so much as showing the slightest emotion or the slightest attempt to resist, she let him enter her without letting out the smallest sound, without allowing a single tear to roll down her face, without letting him know in any way how much he was hurting her, both physically and internally. She realized now what rape was about. It was about power. And now when she found a way to take at least some of that power back, she was determined to keep using that fact to her advantage, making him see that no matter what he was doing, she didn’t belong to him now, she wouldn’t belong to him the next day, she wouldn’t belong to him _ever_.

Oh, and her method proved to be very effective indeed… soon she started feeling that he was not getting as much twisted satisfaction from his dirty actions as he was before, soon she noticed that he was trying to do anything just to get the smallest reaction, the smallest movement, the smallest sound out of her, however she just kept doing what _she_ wanted to do, lying there without letting him know in any way that she was feeling anything at all, which was a skill that took quite some time to master, but it was more than worth it. How could anybody get pleasure from entering a body seemingly made of stone, a body that seemed no more alive than a cold, rigid, marble statue? 

However in moments like this one, in moments when he finally decided to give her body some rest, when she heard his heavy breaths and still felt his body on the top of hers, when the consequences of his quite brutal, desperate actions were so painful and the fresh bruises and bite marks together with the burning pain between her legs were torturing not only her body but her soul as well, in moments like these she was thinking more than ever that it was perhaps finally the right time to give up this vain fight. 

Because if her nights were going to be like this every single day for who knows how long, she knew that she would have to give up sooner or later, sooner or later the pain would defeat her and break her will, shatter her resistance and make her succumb to him completely, let him have every single part of her in a way that he desired. She could try to fight for now, however it was getting harder and harder each day, it was so exhausting to control herself so much and forbid herself to show him that his touch did affect her indeed, that it was affecting her so deeply and intensely, and that she was certainly far from feeling as indifferent and calm about the things he was doing to her as she pretended. But mostly… she had no idea how long she would be able to keep fighting, because she knew that if she didn’t, if she just let go of that stubborn pride… she knew that she might even enjoy it. Yes, something was telling her that she could enjoy _him_ , that she could enjoy him so much…

And that was exactly what she couldn’t ever allow to happen, no matter how tempting it might have seemed to replace pain with pleasure, she simply couldn’t. She knew that if she only allowed her body to surrender to his touch, if she simply let go of that strict control over her senses, that then she would like his touch, she would like his lips, she would love his body… and she would lose every last bit of her dignity with this weakness as well if she ever allowed herself to succumb to him like that. That’s why she kept resisting. Because no matter how tormenting his actions were, she could at least still console her mind with the fact that they both knew he hasn’t broken her, she could hold onto that single thought throughout the entire time when he was taking her body in such a forceful, desperate way.

Because she knew what he wanted more than anything. She knew that it wasn’t her pain or humiliation, or simply the animalistic pleasure of satisfying the needs of his body. Yes, the way he was taking her every single night was brutal and violent, but it wouldn’t have to be that way, and she had it all in her hands. He wanted to feel her pleasure, for some reason he wanted her to enjoy what he was doing to her, and even though she couldn’t understand why, she could understand that if she only granted him that wish, all of his desperate violence would disappear in a heartbeat, as it was nothing but the result of his angry frustration coming from the fact that she was denying him what he truly wanted, it was nothing but a way to break her and make her give all of herself to him completely. 

And this was more than just her assumption about his desires, she knew it with certainty. She knew because he told her, he told her explicitly and she could still remember those words…

_,,You have two options now, Roxy. You’ll either learn to enjoy this and make this much more pleasurable for the both of us, or you’ll just suffer though it every single night…”_

And as he lay there by her side and his breaths were gradually starting to become slower and less intense, he couldn’t prevent the feeling of raging anger taking over him once again. 

Who did this girl think she was? Who did she think she was to deny him the one thing he wanted her to give him? How dared she still resist, how dared she pretend that his touch was doing nothing to her at all, as if she didn’t even feel him, as if her body was there, however her mind and her soul were in some completely different, distant place where he couldn’t reach her no matter how hard he tried? 

The angry frustration he was experiencing every single night just kept growing stronger and stronger, and the fact that he was not able to get anything out of her, not even a small moan of pleasure or at least pain, it was driving him insane. 

How was he supposed to feel that intoxicating ecstasy, how was he supposed to feel the long-forgotten pleasure he craved so much when all that she was giving him was her complete indifference and lifeless apathy as she was lying there, right underneath his body, however making him feel as if she wasn’t there at all?

She was the only one who could give him what he long for so much for centuries… she was the only one with whom he could feel, with whom he could imagine that he was with his beloved wife who died so many centuries ago, but who kept tormenting his heart with excruciating regrets and pain from her loss throughout all those years he had to spend without her… 

No one before her could make him feel that way. Not a single woman he shared his bed with felt like his beloved Lavinia, no one except for this young, beautiful fairy… the only problem was, that even though she could make him feel this way, she kept refusing to, and there was seemingly no way to break her. He tried everything, he tried convincing her with sweet, tempting words, promising that he would make her enjoy this in ways she couldn’t even imagine, and when she refused with so much contempt and mockery in her voice, he tried to threaten her, scare her, terrify her, saying that if she won’t do as he asks, he will give her suffering instead of pleasure, saying that it was up to her to choose in which way she wanted him to treat her, however it wasn’t her choice that from now on she would only belong to him, one way or another. However none of those words seemed to have any effect on her and her stubborn pride, they only made her determined to learn the skill of pretending she wasn’t even there when he was taking her, a skill which she mastered so perfectly that his anger with her grew day by day, constantly getting more and more intense and desperate.

He knew that this was her way of showing him that she didn’t belong to him. However he was more than determined to prove her the opposite, willing to do whatever it takes to show her that her life was in his hands now and that he was not a man whom she could simply deny his wishes and then walk away without any consequences. 

And so her stubborn defiance has provoked him to do things to her that didn’t bring any pleasure to either of them, no pleasure at all… because even thought they might feel good at the time he was doing them, after he was finished he couldn’t even take a look in the mirror without despising the man he saw. Yes, he hated the fact that he was acting like an animal, a brutal, desperate animal that would do any kind of a violent, twisted, despicable thing just to make her show him at least _some_ emotion, to make her let out at least a quiet moan, to make her give him at least some pleasure from what he was doing to her. 

However, he could try whatever he wanted and still nothing worked. And then, when he was finished with her and his eyes fell on her body covered in bruises, bite marks and sometimes even blood, when he saw the silent tears rolling down her face, he simply couldn’t take the sight. The consequences of his actions were almost always immediate, and he usually got off the bed as fast as he could, storming out of the room, his mind tormented by the excruciating feeling of so much guilt as he simply couldn’t erase that picture from his mind, the still fresh, vivid memory of her fragile, vulnerable body hurt by his cruel, twisted actions, hurt by his blind anger and his animalistic needs…

Most of the time he didn’t even bother dressing up, he went straight into the shower in a desperate hope that the ice-cold water would clear his head and maybe, just maybe even ease his conscience in some mysterious, inexplicable way that it would make the memory disappear from his mind, that would extinguish the fire of rage and lust inside him, the very same fire that made him do all those horrid things to that poor, innocent girl…

And then when he would turn the water off, but only after feeling that his body truly wouldn’t be able to take more of that icy, desperately needed self-torture, he would step out of the shower, feeling that he has freed himself at least a little from that raw, suffocating feeling of terrible guilt, however the illusion of that momentary salvation would never last for too long… all it took for his guilty conscience to return was a single look in the mirror, a short moment when he would accidentally catch a glimpse of his reflection, and then he would somehow always find himself unable to turn his gaze away, something kept his eyes fixed on that reflection no matter how much he hated seeing it…

Hundreds of tiny drops of icy water were still rolling down his body, traveling from his blood red hair, caressing his strong muscles, however the comfort of their frosty embrace was suddenly gone, the harsh solace he found in in the coldness that was freezing all of his thoughts, desires and memories, it was there no more, no matter how much he longed for it to return and transform his entire consciousness into that vast, pleasant, numb void, unbothered by that wretched burden known as conscience.

No, that comfort never came back. All he could do was to look at the man he saw in the mirror, look at him with so much contempt, hatred and disgust burning in his eyes like two uncontrollable flames, making it so hard for him to think, to breath, to make his peace with the fact that the man in the mirror was no one else than he himself…

_,,Look at yourself… look at what you’ve become. Look at all the things you’ve done to her. You twisted, revolting, cruel, wicked animal… is this what you’re doing to make yourself feel the love you’ve lost so many centuries ago? Taking away every single bit of dignity and self-respect from that young, innocent girl, all just to break her beyond measure, so that she would obediently do anything you ask from her and make it possible for you to pretend you’re with the only woman you’ve ever truly loved? But what would she have said if she had seen you right now…? She would realize what a cruel, heartless monster you are and have always been, she would never love you again, she would despise you for the rest of her life if she just saw what you have turned the love she once shared with you into…”_

Such thoughts were inevitable, they kept coming back to him and tormenting his mind every single night after his violent, mindless actions, however not even they would last forever. 

He was a man far too proud to allow anyone to blame him for something, anyone or anything, including his own conscience. Why should he feel guilty because of the things she’s gone through? Why should he hold himself responsible for the consequences of her own foolish decisions? Did he not offer her pleasure instead of pain? Did he not tell her that he wanted her to enjoy the things he was doing to her? Oh, if she just let go of that wretched pride of hers, everything could be so different for the both of them, he knew that he would be able to please her in such ways she couldn’t even imagine, in ways that would leave her desperately begging him for more, in ways that would make her forget the entire world and long for nothing but his body, in ways that would make her give herself to him every single night with so much eagerness that would erase every single trace of that stubborn, unnecessary pride… 

This was _her_ decision. This was _her_ fault. He didn’t want to make love to her in this way either… if what he was doing to her could even be called by a pretty expression like that. However, she was the only one to blame for that, if she wasn’t denying him the pleasure of her voluntary submission, his anger and frustration would never take over him and he would never harm her in a single way…

But he _was_ going to get what he wanted. No matter what it took, no matter how much time of effort, no matter what brutal methods he had to use, she _would_ be his eventually. If he had to break her first to make her realize that she belonged to him from now on, then so be it. But nothing was going to keep him from experiencing the feeling of having his beloved Lavinia in his arms once again, nothing was going to keep him from giving himself to her once again, not even the fact that the only way of fulfilling those desperate, centuries-old wishes was through a shallow lie and a despicable pretense, through clouding his own mind at the peak of his pleasure while convincing himself that his reality was something different than what it truly was…

However, he could only reach that desperate dream with the help of the young, pink-haired fairy, she alone had the power of giving him what he longed for so much throughout entire centuries… however, he could hardly imagine being with the girl he loved when the girl underneath his body was as emotionless, as motionless and as soundless as if she wasn’t even a living, breathing person, but a statue made of hard stone and cold ice.

_,,Oh, she will give me what I ask for… I will teach that little wench that defying my wishes has consequences, that it has consequences she is too weak to bear… ”_

She couldn’t help letting out a small scream of pain and shock when all of a sudden she felt his unexpected brutal touch, his hand grabbing her hair violently to make her turn around and look at him. That action came so suddenly and out of nowhere that she found herself unable to hide the raw, animalistic fear in her eyes when they were forced to meet his, even though under normal circumstances she would never allow him to see how terrified she truly was every single time when he touched her. 

,,How long will you keep putting on this ridiculous act?!” he snapped at her angrily, his hand pulling her hair even more painfully, almost making her scream from pain once again, ,,I know that you suffer, I know what I’m doing to you, you can try hiding it all you want but you know it yourself that if you don’t give up soon, I’ll break you in a way that you will never be able to forget all those things you’ve gone though, in a way that will leave you scarred for the rest of your life! Is that what you want?!”

She didn’t answer, she just kept staring into his eyes, even though hers were already clouded by tears that soon started rolling down her cheeks.

However, just a second later, all of a sudden she felt something she truly wouldn’t imagine to experience in this situation… his hand let go of her hair so unexpectedly, and when she subconsciously closed her eyes to enjoy that pleasant relief, she immediately became aware of one another, completely different sensation in that moment…

His soft fingers against her cheek, his warm hand wiping her tears away… she opened her eyes abruptly, a sudden urge to find of whether this was for real taking over her immediately, as she was completely unable to believe that such a gentle, comforting gesture could come from the very same man who caused her all that torment and suffering…

,,I don’t want this either, Roxy,” he whispered quietly, his fingers continuing to caress her face so tenderly, somehow making her so vulnerable, so desperate to feel that inexplicable comfort, that pleasure coming from such an innocent, soft touch, a touch that was making it almost impossible for her to focus on any of his words at all, ,,don’t make me hurt you anymore… I beg you. Let me give you something you will enjoy just as much as I will, let me show you that I can be tender and gentle as well, let me give all those beautiful pleasures to you, let me make love to you instead of raping you… you can make this so much better for the both of us, it’s all in your hands. And I promise you, if you just allow me to show you how amazing sharing your body with somebody can be, I will be so gentle and loving to you that you will forget all about this pain, and I will never harm you in any way again, nor will I ever allow anybody else to do that… just give yourself to me, my beautiful fairy, and I will love you, cherish you, protect you, take care of you, I will give you everything, I will give you all you wish for… you’ve suffered enough, my darling. Don’t harm yourself anymore… let me heal your wounds instead. There is no shame in wanting that…”

As he was saying those words, as she was listening to that quiet, soft whisper caressing her skin and promising her all she could ever ask for, she suddenly became aware of his strong arms wrapping themselves around her waist and pulling her closer, so carefully and tenderly, and she didn’t protest at all… she let him bring their bodies so close that they could feel each other’s skin everywhere again, however this time it was so different, and as he turned around so that he was lying on his back, she found herself resting on the top of his strong body, laying her head on his muscular chest, feeling his steady breaths and listening to his calming heartbeat…

Oh, she couldn’t find the words to describe how wonderful and surreal it felt… it was as if she had found herself in some kind of a strange, chimerical dream, the one in which she couldn’t quite control her actions, however she didn’t even want to, because this felt exactly like the one thing she was longing for so much and so desperately… this was what she needed…

How come she didn’t realize it sooner…? Why did she try to fight something that felt so… so good? Why was she so stubborn, why did she ever resist…? Oh, how fast did she change her mind now after just a few caring words and a few light touches… however she didn’t mind at all. No, she was too tired to fight and to resist at this point anyway, she just wanted some rest, she deserved some rest and peace… and that was exactly what he was offering her, what he wanted to give her…

His warm fingers burying themselves into her hair slowly, caressing it in such a loving, affectionate way, his other hand around her waist holding her against him tightly, so protectively, his warm skin against hers, his entire calming presence, the inexplicable, yet undeniable feeling of safety and comfort she felt when she was just lying there on his chest like this, both of them so quiet and soundless, as if neither of them wanted to break the fragile beauty of this evanescent moment…

Her tremulous breaths and her silent tears were the first thing that interrupted the peaceful bond created between them in those enchanted, dreamlike moments, and even though she was unaware of the reason why the quiet sobs soon started shaking her fragile frame, she found herself completely unable to stop them…

She buried her head into his neck and immediately felt both of his arms pulling her even closer, an action that somehow instinctively made her wrap her arms around his neck and surrender to the comfort of his warmth more and more each second, desperately hoping that he would never let her go, that he would never deny her the pleasure of his gentle, safe embrace ever again…

He was all she wished for. 

She breathed in his scent, that tantalizing, deep scent of musk and sandalwood, and she gradually allowed herself to melt under his touch as she slowly became aware of his soft lips planting small kisses on her face, starting on her temple, continuing along her hairline and her forehead, their light touch making her tremble so vulnerably from the pleasure that they were rapidly intoxicating her blood with, yet the pleasure didn’t come from attraction or lust, it was just that comforting, undeniable feeling that she was safe, that she was loved, that she had somebody to take care of her and protect her from all the pain and suffering in the world…

,,Don’t cry, my darling… everything will be alright now, I promise…” he whispered into her hair quietly, his hand slowly getting lower, his warm fingertips caressing the bare skin of her back in small circles, that touch giving her so much comfort that if he was to stop now, she would immediately beg him not to…

After a while she felt how he lowered his head and she immediately became aware of the sensation of his lips touching the still fresh, quite painful love mark he left on her neck just a few minutes ago when he was still trying to make her his is such an aggressive, possessive way, however this time his touch was so different than before… there was nothing passionate or lustful about it this time, in fact it almost felt like an apology, as if he was trying to kiss all that pain and discomfort away, as if he was trying to show his regrets over what he’s done to her…

,,I’m so sorry…” he said quietly after a while, proving her thoughts immediately, ,,I’m so sorry for every single time I’ve hurt you… but don’t worry now, all will be so different from now on, I promise…”

He couldn’t describe the strange, inexplicable feeling inside him when he was saying those words, when he was promising to never harm a hair on her head, because even though he knew that the fulfillment of his promise depended solely on her decision and on whether she would finally submit to what he wanted, at the same time he felt as if he truly wanted to keep his word no matter the circumstances…

Because all of a sudden, after such a long time, he closed his eyes and felt as if the reality around him began to shift and disappear, allowing him to fool himself once again with that desperate illusion, with that longing of his that began to take form and started to feel so real in such and dreamlike, beautiful way…

Perhaps he would be able to feel his beloved in his arms whenever he wanted to, perhaps he would be able to convince himself that she was there at any time he would feel the desire to be with her once again, and all that it would take would be to gain the trust and affection of the pretty, young fairy who was resting on his chest so peacefully right now, to make her feel safe and comfortable around him, to make her feel like she can trust him… after all, how was he supposed to feel that long-forgotten love he craved so much when the only person capable of giving him something that felt at least a little akin to it was resenting him and despising him for what he was putting her through?

However, this time he knew that it wouldn’t take too much to finally win, to finally defeat the last bits of those futile attempts of resistance inside her already broken, scarred soul, a soul that was too tired and too exhausted to fight anymore, just as was her body…

_,,Oh, I’m so glad that I decided to break her… that I didn’t give up when she was trying so hard to pretend that she was so strong and that she would never yield and submit to what I wanted from her, when she was hoping so naively that a few weeks of stubborn defiance would change anything about this… I always get what I want. And pain is indeed a very effective tool for gaining the things one is denied… perhaps I might have felt like a cruel, heartless, revolting animal after all those nights of hurting her body in those raging storms of my anger, but at the same time, what does it matter now? The end justifies the means… and now she’ll finally belong to me. She will give herself to me and she will do it with pleasure… and I will own all of her from now on, there is no way out of my arms for her now…”_

After a while she started being aware of a strange sensation, a tingling feeling spreading all over her body when he suddenly turned around and ended on top of her once again, however this time the familiar weight of his body on hers wasn’t something that scared and terrified her, something that made her dread the moments that were to come, something that made it almost impossible to fight back her raw, tormenting, intense fear… this time all she was aware of was his warmth and the comforting sensation of feeling his steady heartbeat against her own chest, this time his skin seemed soft and tempting, while the dim light in the room was throwing shadows on his strong, toned muscles, making it so inexplicably hard for her to control the emotions that have immediately awoken inside her in the moment when she realized how much she suddenly started longing for him…

,,Ogron…” she quietly whispered his name into his lips after she found them pressed against hers in such a sweet, gentle way just a few moments later. 

,,Don’t worry, Roxy,” he answered, touching her face with his hand and breaking the kiss so that he could look into her lavender eyes, those beautiful, big eyes that were like a book of her soul, a book letting him read that there were so many conflicted emotions inside her heart right now, such an intense fight inside her mind, however he was more than determined to gain the victory of that battle between her desires and her conscience, ,,let me show you what making love is all about… let me show you what it was always supposed to feel like. I will be gentle, I promise… just let me love you, my beautiful fairy, and I’ll give you all the pleasure in the world…”

She couldn’t deny that a huge part of her just wanted to say yes right the moment when that suggestion left his lips… she couldn’t deny that something inside her just wanted to feel him, something inside her just wanted him to fulfill all those things he was promising her right from the beginning, something inside her wanted to experience the pleasure he would give her if she just succumbed and gave up that fight…

_,,Why should I not give myself to him after all…? Because of my dignity? Oh, who am I trying to fool… I lost it a long time ago, and it’s not coming back, not after everything he’s put my body through… and do I not deserve a little bit of relief, a little bit of happiness after all this suffering? I don’t want to fight anymore, I’m so exhausted… and I have nothing worth keeping anyway. If being his can end this pain and give me something to enjoy in my miserable life, why shouldn’t I do it…?”_

She was quiet for a while, however the tantalizing promise of pleasure intertwining with the undeniable allure of his scent and his strong body was slowly taking over her, it was taking over her senses, clouding her judgement and her conscience more and more by each second, making her so vulnerable, so helpless… 

It was as if she was under some kind of a strange spell and yet she knew that there was no magic at all involved in any of this, she knew that it was just him awakening her darkest, most shameless desires, the desires she tried to suppress for so long because her pride and her conscience would never allow her to enjoy his touch, however everything was changing so quickly and so uncontrollably now, and it felt as if all her emotions were a powerful, thunderous waterfall that was held back by a huge dam up until now, up until now when all of its strength finally broke the dam and allowed the water to escape from that prison and flow freely with all its might and unrestrained power…

So how could she refuse now…?

,,Yes…,” she heard a quite whisper coming from her lips, ,,take me… oh, please, Ogron just take me…”

She didn’t even realize how did it happen when all of a sudden she felt his intimate touch once again, she felt his body and its familiar warmth, however this time it wasn’t what she was used to, oh no, this time she couldn’t even compare it to all those nights of pain and tears she tried to hold back so desperately…

His lips were soft, his skin warm, and all she could hear were his hot, intense breaths intertwining with her quiet moans, sounds of pure delight that were inevitably and uncontrollably escaping her lips and she wouldn’t be able to hold them back even if she wanted to… however this time she didn’t. No, this time it was finally over. All that suffering and pain suddenly became no more than a pale, insignificant memory, an echo from the past that almost didn’t feel real in comparison to what she was experiencing right now, in those beautiful moments of something that was completely beyond her every expectation, beyond anything she could ever dream about…

He was so gentle, so tender, so loving, and oh, he wasn’t lying indeed when he was promising her pleasure she couldn’t even imagine up until that moment… 

The next minutes felt as if she was taken away to a different world, abducted to a place where everything she felt, everything she heard and everything she saw felt like a pure ecstasy, like a sweet wine of delightful delirium intoxicating her blood, spreading across her entire body and taking over her mind, as if she drank a dangerous poison that was able to take away her entire reality and replace it with a new one, one so much more exciting, so much more desirable and so much more beautiful… and she never wanted to leave that place. 

She dreaded the moment when she would have to go back to the real world, she dreaded it so much that after a while she realized she heard her own voice begging him, begging him so desperately to give her more of that sweet ecstasy, that drug that was clouding her judgement so intensely when she felt his touch in this completely new, irresistible way… those moments were like a chimeric dream, barely tangible in a way and yet so intense and powerful, their feverish allure intertwining with the consuming desire that was burning like two raging flames inside their chests, and when those flames met, they created a fire that was impossible to extinguish by any element of this world, neither by water, nor by magic or reality…

Oh, and did he love the sound of her voice begging him for more… when he remembered for how many weeks he only longed for hearing that desperate plea, for how many weeks he only longed for having her body overdosed on lust and pure physical pleasure, so eager, so needy and so vulnerable, gladly accepting all that he was giving her and even letting herself become so terribly thirsty for more, forgetting about her pride and dignity, letting herself become so hungry for his touch and for experiencing that single moment when he would finally take her to the very peak of their mutual pleasure…

When that moment finally came, she felt that she didn’t want to hold back anything anymore…anything at all. Her lips let out his name and she felt the tears of pure, raw, animalistic pleasure rolling down her face, and she would do anything for him in that moment, she would do anything in the world just to please him, all in that desperate, fiery hope that this moment would never end…

And when that moment came for him, he closed his eyes and saw _her_ once again, he saw her, touched her, felt her, he was looking into those beautiful, innocent blue eyes, he buried his fingers into those soft, silky, golden waves… he was with her after all that torturously long time when he was denied that single desperate wish, that uncontrollable need that was slowly bringing him closer and closer to madness every single night when he simply couldn’t imagine that she was there in his arms, when he couldn’t feel her as vividly as he felt her all those centuries ago when she was truly there, all because of that stubborn defiance of the girl who was the only possible replacement… however not anymore. Now all of that ordeal was gone, forgotten and banished into the oblivion as his lovely, beautiful Lavinia was finally his once again… 

The next moment she was able to fully perceive was when she suddenly realized the lack of his warmth against her body, his warmth, his familiar weight, his hot breaths and heated lips, all of that was gone so unexpectedly, so abruptly, and she didn’t even realize how did it happen…

However when she turned her head to the side slightly, she saw him right there next to her, his chest was rising and falling with heavy, loud breaths and she noticed the tiny drops of sweat rolling down his neck, falling right on those strong, chiseled muscles that were pressed against her chest just a few moments ago.

She didn’t know for how long she was just lying there, listening to their quickened breaths and feeling her heart thumping inside her chest so intensely as if it wanted to jump out any second, she didn’t know for how long she relished the memory of his indescribable touch and the irresistible things it made her feel, however she knew that in those moments she wasn’t able to think straight at all… she wanted more of him. Oh, she wanted so much more…

,,Ogron…,” she heard the quiet words escaping her lips almost subconsciously, almost as if she had no control over them at all, ,,Ogron, I need you to give me more…”

After hearing her voice and her new, quite unexpected plea, he must have admitted that he was truly surprised… he knew that she desired him now, he knew that he broke her completely, so perfectly and masterfully, however he already took her three times this night, even though the first two times were against her will and therefore not at all as enjoyable for either of them, but that still didn’t change anything about the fact that his body, no matter how satisfied and overdosed on pleasure it was, that his body was simply… undeniably exhausted. So how come that a young girl half his size, with probably less than a half of his stamina and most definitely with much less than a half of his sexual experience was begging him for more now…? He couldn’t say that he was displeased to hear those words though… maybe he didn’t quite understand, yet her plea still sounded like such a sweet, tempting music to his ears… because it meant that from now on, she would only continue giving him more and more, that from now on she would turn into the person he wanted her to be every single night, and she would do it willingly…

He turned around slowly, supporting himself on his elbows as he trapped her body underneath his once again, however this time all that he gave her was a small, light kiss on her lovely pink lips, those beautiful lips that were still trembling slightly from all that need and passion that kept lingering in her veins, unable and unwilling to leave, conquering her body and her mind, defeating her own will in a way that would become her sweet, dangerous, irresistible addiction for the rest of her life…

,,I will give you so much more, my beautiful fairy, I promise… however, for now you’ve already drained me of all my strength and I’m afraid that this is all I can give you for one day, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow…,” he chuckled quietly, ,,but you have my word that I’ll give you anything you ask for, tomorrow or any day in the future… you’re all I want. Now get some rest. You need it.”

After those words he planted one more tender kiss on her lips, lowering his head to reach her neck, his hot breath tantalizing her in an almost unbearable way, however after he lightly brushed his lips against her skin there, he suddenly sat up on the side of the bed and got up, leaving her wanting so much more despite the fact that she was so tired and exhausted as well, and yet the lack of his warmth and of the feeling of his skin against hers left her craving him in such a tormenting way, almost making her mindlessly beg him once again to change his mind…

However, before she even managed to realize how did it happen, he was suddenly gone, he was there by her side no more and all that he left behind were those hot, messy sheets, still so warm from the heat of his passion, still soaked in his already intangible presence and his deep, tantalizing scent… all that he left behind now was a memory, so vivid and fresh and yet gradually becoming so strangely distant, always more and more by each moment…

As minutes passed, the room was slowly getting flooded by the moonlight swimming inside through the large windows and covering everything, including her still uncovered body, by a shimmering, delicate blanket of cold silver shine, the eerie silence of the night finding its way into the room together with that strangely distant, yet beautiful light, however finding its way into her heart and soul as well, making it all feel so inexplicably numb and meaningless all of a sudden, filling her with a strangely poignant, yet somehow empty mixture of intertwining emotions, emotions barely tangible at first, however gradually growing more and more intense in a way she simply couldn’t ignore, in a way that slowly started suffocating her so mercilessly, making her feel as if some kind of a frozen hand with icy-cold fingers was crushing her tiny, vulnerable heart, as if some hungry monster was sucking the air right out of her lungs, thirsty for every single drop of life inside her fragile body… and all of a sudden, she found herself wanting to scream. 

She felt as if she didn’t even have control over her body in that moment when she found it sitting up on the bed abruptly, her breaths quickened, her skin covered in sweat and inexplicable heat, a sudden erratic thumping inside her chest and her rapid heartbeat taking over her, as if she was running as fast as she could, running for her life, running from something she didn’t want to face, from something she had to avoid at all costs, from something she could never look at, no matter what it takes…

No, no, no… she could never face it. She could never… she would never. She had to hide from it at all costs… because she knew that if she was to ever look back at what she’s done, if she was to look back at the person who was lying there in this very same bed just a few minutes ago… was it minutes or was its hours already…?

All she knew was that her legs were carrying her away, running, escaping as fast as they could, however they didn’t get her far… 

A moment later she found herself in the bathroom, her shaky hands barely able to get her hair out of her face, just a little while before she threw up everything that was inside her stomach, so suddenly, unexpectedly, and uncontrollably, and even though she wanted to stop, she simply didn’t know how to, everything was coming out of her and she was barely able to take a breath, barely able to support herself enough to keep her head above the washstand, where she luckily somehow managed to get before all this inexplicable mixture of sheer panic and sudden physical discomfort managed to take over her…

However it was all over in just few moments, it was over just as fast as it came, the immediate, desperately needed relief spreading across her body almost as if it was a healing spell, and all she could hear in those next minutes were her heavy breaths and her still erratic, uncontrollable heartbeat, since even though the physical sickness was gone, her panic and her wild, animalistic instinct to avoid looking at things she’s done were still there, still tormenting her in such a ferocious, cruel way, in a way so much worse and more excruciating that any sickness or pain of the body… 

However, she knew that sooner or later it would become inevitable to face it. And so her legs carried her back to the bedroom, shaky and barely able to support her weight, carrying her almost subconsciously and against her own will, so weak that they made her trip once or twice before she finally reached the bed and fell down on it, right to the familiar embrace of the soft sheets, however this time their scent and the still lingering warmth brought her no solace at all… quite on the contrary. 

The sheets were hot, however the sensation of feeling them against her skin made her shiver from cold. She was freezing. She curled up, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging her legs with her hands, and soon she started hearing some strange sounds, however it took her a while to realize where they were coming from… 

Her quiet sobs were the only thing shattering the seemingly impenetrable, unsettling silence of the night, her quiet sobs accompanied only by the tears that kept rolling down her face and wetting the covers underneath her head, and she lost track of time completely when she allowed herself to drown in her sorrow, in her shame and her consuming guilt, when she let them tear her apart for the inside as she kept weeping and pouring her entire broken soul out through those small droplets of water, pouring it out and letting it get soaked up by the very same bed where she lost all of herself today, where she gave up her fight and surrendered to that monstrous promise of pleasure, where she showed them both that no matter how hard she tried to avoid it, she was his from the first time when he took her, and she would be his for the rest of her life… 

The only companion in her lonely ordeal was the moon shining high above her, covering her body in soft, silver rays, touching her soul tenderly and caressing her skin with its cold light, so gently as if it wanted to heal all those bruises and scars from all those previous tormenting nights, however mostly as if it tried to make her forget the scars on her soul that she herself left there today, only she and her weakness, no one else… there was no one else to blame for that pain.

There were no words to describe the sheer hatred and disgust she felt when she was touching her own body, however despite that she simply wasn’t able to stop holding her legs that she brought as close to her chest as possible, hiding her face in her own embrace and hoping that sooner or later that terrible shame would fade, that it would fade and melt away at least a little, however deep inside she knew the truth… she would never look at herself the same way again.

_,,What will become of me now…? Will I lose control, lose all my will to fight every single time when he’ll want to take me from now on? Would it even matter if I continued fighting against something, against someone that I can never defeat? But then, if I don’t, how will I live with myself during all these days that lie ahead of me? Will I only live for these short few minutes of pleasure, will I only live for this evanescent escape from reality when I can overdose on something so disgustingly wrong and yet so sweetly tempting and addictive? Will I l love him during the night and hate him during the day, just as I will forget about my conscience in that wild ecstasy that his body will give me during the night, and then continue living on with the shame, guilt and self-resentment during the day? Or will I rather defy him once again and put myself through all that horrid violence and pain? But even if I found the strength do to that, how long would that determination last when now I know what I can have instead…? Oh, but what does it matter? Is all that pleasure worth this horrible torment of despising myself so much that I’m not even able to look at my own reflection in the mirror? No, I can’t give up just because I failed once… because if I was to feel that I’ve lost even more dignity than I already have… I would not be able to live with myself like that. I would rather put an end to myself once and for all than spend the rest of my life as his slave and as somebody who isn’t able to love and respect a single part of herself…”_

She didn’t know for how long she was just lying there, shivering from cold and trembling from quiet, incessant sobs, devoured alive by guilt, more and more each second… she didn’t know for how long she was in that state until she finally heard a sound, a sound that came as a salvation, something to free her from that bottomless abyss of darkness that she was slowly falling into… 

She lifted her head abruptly and expected to see him once again, however she almost gasped in shock when instead of the red-haired wizard, who was the only person she saw during the entire last month, her eyes fell on an entirely different man…

The tall, dark-skinned wizard with intense, almost black eyes and long dreadlocks hanging loosely over his shoulders looked so much different from when she saw him the last time, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it and tell what the reason was, however in the eerie sliver moonlight he looked almost like a ghost, like a phantom that belonged more to the otherworld than to the one of the living creatures. His eyes, despite their deep, intense color, looked like a foggy mirror reflecting an empty, weak, exhausted soul, his usual small teasing smirk, that always used to play on his lips almost imperceptibly, was there no more and his entire aura of confidence and power that she remembered was now no more than a distant memory. 

And even though she was shocked by his presence and had no idea how was it possible that Ogron let him into the room where he was keeping her, just as she had no idea what might it be that he wanted from her, she felt strangely relieved for a moment when she saw his face, when her eyes fell on a face of somebody who wasn’t the man tormenting her mind during the day and her body during the night, on a face of somebody who at least for a short while distracted her from all that consuming, excruciating guilt and unsettling thoughts.

However, that comforting feeling only lasted for a short while before it was replaced by natural mistrust and immediate doubts. She sat up on the bed, wiping the tears away from her face and looking at him, somehow not even bothering to cover her unclothed body… what did it matter now after all, when all her innocence was gone anyway? 

,,What are you doing here?” she asked quietly, trying to prevent her weak voice from trembling too much.

For the first few moments Anagan wasn’t able to say anything, he wasn’t even able to think straight and understand what was going on after he became aware of the meaning of this sight right before his eyes, a sight that was anything but what he expected to see and witness in here. 

In truth, he didn’t know what exactly he should expect. After all, Ariadne has made herself very clear about the fact that he had to repay his debt to her in a way _she_ wanted and that he had no say in that matter, however she was much less clear about the details and the circumstances that his repayment would involve…

And seeing the last fairy on Earth, that young, innocent, vulnerable girl that he and his brothers were hunting for her powers not even such a long time ago, seeing her here now, in the bed of his brother, without any clothes, her small, fragile body covered in bruises and scars, her face covered in tears and her voice shaking from quiet sobs… it all made sense in a way it most definitely shouldn’t.

He knew that he was the last man in the world who had any right to judge his brother based on the fact that he has committed rape. Because pretending that he, he of all people, a man who took the innocence of so many pure, vulnerable, helpless young fairies, was better than his brother who has done something like that probably for the first time in his life, pretending such a thing would be nothing but pure hypocrisy. However, that still changed nothing about how shocked he was when he actually realized what happened here… because rape was the only possible explanation for why he was seeing this more than clear sight before his very own eyes right now.

And that too changed nothing about the fact that he had no idea how all of this was even possible.

_,,What on Earth is going on here…? What kind of a mess have I gotten myself into? I might not understand why Ogron would desire to sleep with a fairy, especially with this one, however I know that whatever he wants, he gets… and it’s for the best not to get between him and the things he desires. And if now what he craves is this girl and Ariadne wants me to gain her trust, for some reason that certainly has nothing to do with helping Ogron get what he longs for… I would definitely not get involved into any of this if I had a choice. If I learned something during all those years when my brother was trying to hunt down and kill his sister, his sister who until now had us all believe that she was long-dead, it is that the best decision is to stay out of the conflict between the two of them, or anything related to their mutual hatred for that matter… they’re both equally thirsty for each other’s blood, both insanely determined to do anything just to get revenge, and even though I never knew their entire story, I didn’t even need that to realize that their boundless hatred for each other makes them nothing but two dangerous, untamed, wild animals, ready to tears themselves apart whenever they notice the first chance… there is nothing to change their minds, nothing they desire more than each other’s suffering and blood. And now I’m caught in the middle, loyal to Ariadne because I have a debt to repay, however unable to even imagine the possibility of doing something to hurt my brother, even though after everything that happened, I can’t say I feel some kind of deep love or affection towards him… but that doesn’t mean I can just give up on my family, or former family more accurately, that easily…”_

This moment wasn’t the first one when he started regretting that reckless, instinctive decision he made a few weeks ago, a decision that resulted in him owing Ariadne whatever she would ask for… that was their deal. A life for loyalty. She was the savior and he her slave. There was no way out of this for him now… and he knew better than to try to fool one of the most powerful and most formidable witches he ever encountered in his entire life. Her magic was dangerous and as dark as the night, and so was she, a ruthless, bloodthirsty, vicious woman capable of doing anything to get what she wants… so similar to her twin brother in so many ways, although she would probably kill him on the spot if she knew he dared even thinking of her that way. 

He never truly understood the reason why Ogron was so determined to take her life, since his brother never opened up about his past completely, not to him nor to any of his brothers, not even to Duman, he supposed, not even to the one who knew him the best from them all. However, that changed nothing about the fact that as they were all loyal to their leader, they fought with him side by side for many years, trying to achieve the very same goal that he was, trying to kill the woman who seemed to be as elusive as a shadow and as cunning as a fox, making it impossible for them to hunt her down and finally grant Ogron’s lifelong wish of seeing her dead, of seeing her lifeless body covered in deep, dark blood and blanched with a deadly pallor. 

And the truth was that he never really understood how it was possible that she had managed to make fools out of all of them for such a long time… they were all powerful, formidably dangerous wizards after all, and one would think that alone she stood no chance at all against their united powers, yet still no matter how hard they tried, she always seemed to be one step ahead, always outsmarting them in a way that made his red-haired brother furious beyond measure so many times throughout out all those years… he had to admit, however, that there was something undeniably impressive about that skill of hers. It was as if she could see right inside their heads, as if she could read their minds and find out about their plans by getting inside their thoughts in some sort of an inexplicable, mysterious way… it was almost as if she had some help. However, that was apparently not the case… both Gantlos and Duman wanted her dead after all, they spend years trying to hunt her down and take her life, in which the young shapeshifter almost succeeded… unfortunately just almost. 

Unfortunately, because even though he personally might not have harbored any deep hatred for the beautiful red-haired sorceress, he still knew that she was nothing but a huge trouble in his life right now.

_,,I’m such a fool… I should never have gotten involved with that woman at all. At least definitely not in this way… the only involvement I could imagine wanting with her is the kind that lasts for one night and is forgotten for good once the next morning arrives… she is undeniably a beauty after all. Oh, what would my brothers say if they knew I was thinking about her this way… not that it matters now. Now I’m betraying them all because of one pretty little fairy who saved my life when nobody even asked her for it… that girl sure is a trouble as well. Kind and unselfish to death…even to a man like me. I can’t even say whether that makes me glad or furious… she should have run away when I told her to and not meddle into something that was clearly not her business. Now I’m not only still alive, but also burdened by the responsibility of returning her unsolicited favor… I can’t let her die now, not after everything that she’s done for me. Her life is in my hands now, and if there’s one thing I want to make right before I put an end to myself for good, it’s making sure that she’s alive and well, that she’s safe… there is something so special about that girl after all, she might still do so much good in her life that’s ahead of her, and I can’t just let her leave so soon because of me… she truly is an angel, and she must continue making this wicked world a better place. Even if I won’t be a part of it anymore…”_

Ariadne was the one who saved her life. He didn’t even know how she found them there, early in the morning in that abandoned park, however the moment he saw her he didn’t even think about trying to fight her… he begged her to help. He knew how powerful she was… perhaps healing the barely breathing, deadly wounded girl in his arms wasn’t beyond her abilities, he thought. 

And it wasn’t indeed… she didn’t even ask him any questions, she didn’t even try to figure out why he was suddenly so desperate to save the life the young, beautiful fairy he was holding in his embrace so tightly, she just told him that she could do for him whatever he wanted, that she could save her… however that she had a condition. A condition that he would be indebted to her after this favor, and that she would only fully grant him his wish after he would do something for her, anything she asked… and until then, the Fairy of Nature would be under her spell, a spell that would prevent her condition from getting any worse, however that would not heal her in any way yet… and that she would only save her life after he’s earned her help. 

And he agreed to her conditions immediately. He didn’t even think about it. He had to make sure that the fairy would survive, he simply had to… 

And from that day he waited for the beautiful red-haired sorceress to come back to him end the torment of that insufferable waiting and uncertainty, to come back and tell him what was it that she wanted him to do to repay his debt… and just a few days ago, she finally appeared. She told him what he had to do. And although he didn’t understand why she wanted him to gain the trust of the last fairy on Earth, he had no other choice but to do as she asked. It was no simple task for sure, given his previous efforts when together with his brothers he tried to hunt the fairy down, rip her wings off and steal her magic, however he knew he would do whatever it takes to gain her trust after all, there was simply no other option. He had an innocent life on his shoulders now… and he was not going to watch one another person, that he might care at least a little about, die. What he had to witness when the last sparks of life left the pale body of his beloved little brother just a month ago… that was a torment he still wasn’t able to deal with, not even up until now. He couldn’t to go through a similar suffering again, he simply couldn’t…

,,What are you doing here?” 

That quiet, barely audible question that she asked him for the second time already suddenly interrupted his thoughts and brought him back to reality, and his eyes fell once again on her fragile, naked body covered in so many marks of suffering that he couldn’t help but felt sorry for that poor girl all of a sudden… it indeed seemed like his brother has put her through hell. 

But why would he do that, what reason could he possibly have…? He could have slept with any other girl, seducing a woman for one night sure wasn’t any problem for him after all, so why did he want this one so much in particular, especially when his actions were quite apparently against her will? Anagan knew that his brother would never force himself upon a woman, he knew that for some reason, which Ogron never really explained to him, he simply wouldn’t take any girl against her will… which made this entire sight before his eyes even more perplexing and less explicable.

,,Are you alright…?” he asked her after a few seconds, no other words coming to his mind in that very moment, even though the question was quite unfitting and the answer more than apparent.

,,Do I look alright?” she scoffed, a little sarcastic smile appearing on her lips for a short while, however it was gone immediately as more tears rolled down her cheeks all of a sudden, making her wipe them away with the back of her hand quickly, ,,what do you want here?”

,,Has… has Ogron done this to you…?” he asked quietly, slowly taking a few steps towards her until he reached the bed and sat down carefully, which only resulted in her instinctively pulling away from him with a sharp, abrupt movement.

,,Get away from me! Don’t you dare to touch me…!”

,,Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you…”

,,As if I had any reason to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth! As if it wasn’t enough to have one of you bastards touch me and treat me worse than a whore every single night…! If you came to force yourself upon me like that son of a bitch you call your brother, I’m warning you that I’ll rather die than let you do it…!”

He saw the raw, animalistic terror in her eyes as she was saying those words, covering her body with the sheets on the bed and crawling as far away from him as possible, he saw the brutal fear that was struck into her heart by his brother and his undeniably savage, violent actions, and once again, all of a sudden his heart ached with that inexplicable pity for her. 

How come that he felt so much compassion for this young girl when he had so many other fairies in his own bed in a very similar state as a result of his own selfish actions so many times before? Well, perhaps their state wasn’t so similar after all, since he never used to be quite as brutal with them as his brother apparently was with this poor girl, however what he’s done to them was more less the same thing, wasn’t it? He should understand Ogron’s actions better than anyone, shouldn’t he? 

And yet, when he was looking at her now… he couldn’t help but felt disgusted not only with his brother and with the things he’s done to her, but with himself as well… what kind of monsters were they to do this to such young, pure, innocent souls, to break them and scar them for the rest of their lives, all just to have a few moments of selfish pleasure and some shallow satisfaction for their insatiable bodies? Perhaps Duman was right all along… perhaps he should have listened to his little brother and all his contempt when it came to the way he sought to fulfill his desires… perhaps even though he was a twisted, bloodthirsty monster, that young shapeshifter had more of a conscience than he himself had in many ways…

,,I told you that I’m not here to hurt you,” he said in a calming tone, trying his best to show her that his intentions with her were far from what she feared so much, ,,I promise I won’t harm you in any way, you have my word…”

,,Then why are you here?” she interrupted him, her voice and her entire body trembling with fear, and even though she hated the fact that she appeared so weak and vulnerable, that she looked like a helpless easy prey, she simply couldn’t help it.

She didn’t trust a single word he said, after all that she’s been through she knew better than to be naive like that, and so she was scared, no, she was terrified to death, she was so terrified that he would hurt her in the same way as his brother was hurting her throughout all these days… and she knew that she would have no way to resist if that was what he truly wanted. So the only thing she could really do now was to wait and pray that he wouldn’t try to force himself upon her and cause her even more pain and humiliation than she has already experienced during this horrible night…

,,I… I came to help you,” he answered, knowing that his answer probably didn’t sound even close to convincing, however he was still in shock and was still trying to understand all the things that were happening, so he couldn’t bring himself to think of something more believable.

,,Am I really supposed to just trust you like that?” she scoffed mockingly, ,,just tell me why are you really here …!”

,,I’m not lying!” he interrupted her suddenly, unable to hide the tired, quite irritated annoyance in his voice ,,and if you want a proof that what I’m saying is true, then how about this one, little fairy, don’t you think that if I wanted to rape you like my brother did, I would have done it by now and not wasted my time with this meaningless little conversation?”

His words seemed to have convinced her at least a little, he knew that as he saw a part of that raw, uncontrollable fear in her big lavender eyes slowly disappearing, and all of a sudden her entire body seemed at least a bit more relaxed. She didn’t trust him, not yet, however she definitely seemed to have calmed down enough for him to at least try to have a reasonable talk with her.

,,Then will you finally tell me what do you want from me…?” she asked quietly.

,,You seem like you could use some healing magic first… those scars and bruises look quite painful. I could help with that, if you allowed me…”

His suggestion left her taken aback and for a few seconds she found herself unable to answer. Her first instinct was telling her that this could be a trap, however something inside her wanted to believe so badly that his intentions were truly as pure and innocent as he claimed them to be… after all, he was right, if he wanted to hurt her, he would have done it by now, he wouldn’t have wasted his time talking to her and even offering to heal her wounds…

For the first time since he came, she mustered up enough courage and looked up to meet his eyes. And the moment she did it, she suddenly felt a wave of inexplicable comfort and safety washing over her, she couldn’t help but felt that something in those dark, black eyes and their deep gaze seemed so soothing and caring for some reason… it was as if she looked at a completely different person than she remembered. The cocky arrogance and the proud confidence were gone and all that she saw now was a man with no pretense, with no lie of self-importance written over his face, something in his eyes suggesting that his words were honest and he meant her no harm… and somehow for some reason that she couldn’t fully understand herself, that one look into his eyes made her trust him and believe that all of his intentions were truly what he claimed they were. It was more of an instinct than a rational conviction, however to believe in that instinct seem like the best, saftest choice in that moment…

Her hands slowly let go of the sheets she was holding so close to herself up unit now, exposing her body completely in the shine of the moonlight right in front of him. Her eyes didn’t leave his for a single moment, carefully looking for any sings of desire or lust that might flash in them for a split second, any sings that would reveal it if his words weren’t true… however no matter how hard she tried, she found none.

He knew that this was a test, however it wasn’t hard for him to pass it at all. He had nothing to hide. After a few moments when he waited in order to gain her trust, he extended his hand towards her without a word, showing her that she had nothing to be afraid of.

And she put her hand into his, a little hesitantly, however almost without any fear now, and the moment when she touched the warm skin of his palm and felt his fingers against hers, it was as if that warmth suddenly spread across her entire body in an inexplicable, yet pleasantly comforting way. 

She moved closer to him until she was sitting by his side, feeling strangely relaxed and safe even though she was completely naked in front of a man she barely knew, however none of that seemed to matter, since the only thing she was able to focus on was the warmth of his palm as he didn’t let go of her hand for a single second, holding it in such a tender, reassuring way…

It has honestly taken him aback to feel how much she seemed to trust him now, all of a sudden… and he didn’t even have to try so hard to achieve that. But at the end of the day… no wonder that a girl who was alone, scared and helpless would look for any kind of comfort and would be inclined to hold onto it with a tenacious grip once she found it, or to any person that she might trust not to harm her and take care of her…

And then, all of a sudden, an idea struck him. All of a sudden, he knew. He knew how he was going to make her trust him, he knew how he was going to fulfill Ariadne’s wish and repay his debt… it was as clear as day to him now and he knew exactly what his plan was. This was going to work, he had no doubts about that… after all, gaining the trust of an already broken, vulnerable girl might be an easier task than he first thought it would be…

He kept holding her small palm with his fingers covering the back of her hand so gently, meanwhile he used his other hand to bring a few strands of rosy pink hair from her back to her shoulder, caressing her skin in a way that made it look like nothing but a short, accidental brush, however he immediately felt the shivers of comfort that the light, almost imperceptible touch caused her… oh, she was going to be so easy to fool. 

_,,I’ll make you fall for me, little fairy, I’ll make you fall for me so hard that you’ll trust me with your life… and then I’ll break your heart. And I’m so sorry for that, I truly am… but I’m not doing this because I want to. We all have something to fight for, something we must fight for, something that gives our lives a meaning… and we all must make compromises with our conscience sometimes in order to win that fight…”_

,,This might be a little uncomfortable… I’ll do my best, but you see, healing magic is not exactly my forte…,” he said quietly, chuckling a little to lighten the atmosphere.

,,Then why did you offer to do it?” she asked as she lifted her gaze, still a little hesitantly, to look at him once again.

,,Because seeing you like that… I couldn’t just let you suffer from all that pain when I can do something about it,” he whispered quietly, his thumb slowly caressing the back of her hand, the movement so light that it was almost imperceptible, and yet he knew how much solace that simple touch was giving her, together with the gentle, caring way in which he said his words.

He slowly lifted his hand, touching the skin of her neck covered in love bites, some of them undeniably painful as she gasped in discomfort immediately, even though his fingers were as light as feathers when he made contact with her bruised skin. However, it only took few seconds for her to relax once again…

,,Don’t worry, this will only hurt a little, and after that, all of these will be healed…,” he whispered, lowering his head a little so that he could get a better look at what he was doing, meanwhile letting his hot breath tickle her neck slightly, making it look like nothing but a coincidence once again, and once again feeling the subtle, yet undeniable reaction of pleasure as an immediate response of her body.

Just a few moments later she started being aware of a strange, not exactly pleasant sensation, when the tender touch of his warm fingers was replaced by a sudden piercing icy feeling against her skin, making her involuntarily gasp from the pain that made her feel as if there were thousands of tiny spikes made of cold ice sinking deep into her flesh, and soon the slight discomfort started turning into a sharp, intense pain… 

However, that pain was gone before she even managed to make any sound of discomfort, it was gone as quickly and suddenly as it came, replaced by a new, surprisingly pleasant sensation, letting her experience the comfort of her body being healed by something that felt as tender and warm as the light caress of the first rays of sun in the morning.

,,I’m sorry… I know that it hurt. I wish I was better at this kind of spells, so that I wouldn’t have to cause you even more pain…,” he said quietly after a while, his fingers lingering against the already healed skin of her neck for a little while longer, even after the spell was already finished.

,,No, no… it’s alright,” she answered immediately, subconsciously relishing the feeling of his touch and wishing it would stay there for at least for a while longer, ,,it feels so much better now… can you… can you continue?” 

A small voice in her head was whispering to her, whispering quietly but relentlessly, telling her to be careful, warning her not to trust somebody whom she barely knew at all, especially when that somebody was a man who was still trying to hunt her down just a month ago, to take her wings and steal her magic, a man who probably wouldn’t hesitate to take her life back then and now was showing so much unexpected, inexplicable kindness, worrying about her well-being and using his own magic just to heal her wounds… perhaps she really should be careful around him, perhaps she shouldn’t trust him so much and so soon, after all, what reasons could he possibly have to care about her like this…? 

And yes, she realized that those quiet whispers of doubts were something she should listen to, something she should take seriously, and she knew that she should at least think her next actions though… however despite that, she simply couldn’t find enough strength inside her to admit that all those worries might be justified. No, no, she simply couldn’t… she couldn’t bring herself to accept the fact that the only person who offered her help and comfort in his hell could have intentions that weren’t pure and good, she couldn’t allow herself to even think of a possibility that perhaps his caring, tender kindness was just a lie, a pretense to fool her and then cold-bloodedly stab her in the back when the time comes… no, she could not believe that. 

Perhaps it was an irrational, instinctive decision based on her desperation and her tormenting need for some safety and protection rather than based on rational thoughts, however at this point she simply didn’t have enough strength to care. She wanted to trust him, oh, she wanted to trust him so much… and she wanted that more and more each moment, since each moment she realized it always more clearly how much she truly needed him, how much she needed somebody to hold onto and never let go, no matter what happens…

,,I can continue, if you want me to… but I’ll need you to trust me…,” he answered her question, tucking a few strands of her rosy pink hair behind her ear and then letting his fingers travel down, his fingertips against her small face, caressing her cheek until they reached her chin. After a while he slowly lifted it up to make her look into his deep eyes once again.

,,Can you do that?”

Mesmerized by the gaze of those beautiful, dark eyes, she nodded slightly without even thinking about it, feeling as if she was being hypnotized when the already familiar sensation of warmth of comfort spread across her entire body immediately as a result of nothing else than simply meeting those calming, serene, enthralling eyes of his. 

A few moments later she started being aware of his fingers moving down slowly even further, caressing her neck and slowly getting lower and lower… and she knew where she would feel their touch soon, however she didn’t know whether she longed for that sensation or whether the idea made her worried after everything that she’s been though… and when she suddenly realized the feeling of those fingers against her chest, she couldn’t help but flinched a little, her instincts taking over her immediately, even though she knew she had nothing to be afraid of. 

,,Relax… I will not hurt you. I have to do this if you want me to heal you…,” he whispered into her ear quietly when he leaned towards her, the soft tickle of his hot breath making her tremble immediately.

She nodded once again, showing that she trusted him and allowed him to do whatever he considered necessary, and when she felt how he pressed his entire palm against her chest lightly, she almost sighed from relief… everything he was doing, his touches, his movements, his quiet, reassuring voice, it all made her feel so safe after she though for such a long time that she would never feel this way again…

When he used his magic once again to take care of her wounds, she vaguely realized that he was not only healing the bruises on her chest now, no, he was healing her entire body, every single painful sore spot she had, giving her the much-needed relief that she desperately carved for such a long time already…

And even though the spell was just as uncomfortable at first as it was the last time, now it all seemed more bearable, since she realized that he has put one of his arms around her to warm her body trembling from the icy touch of his magic, providing her with the heat she needed so much, and at the same time letting her relax against his strong chest. 

After a few moments she realized that the feeling of magic inside her body was suddenly gone, and so was all the pain and discomfort caused by Ogron’s violent actions. She turned her head slightly to look at the dark-skinned wizard in whose arms she was still resting, despite the fact that the spell and all its frosty coldness have already disappeared, and even though she wouldn’t say it, inside her head she begged him not to let her go…

A few moments later she suddenly realized that the warmth of his body was there no more, and something inside her just wanted to grab his arm instinctively to prevent her from losing the comfort of his reassuring proximity, however before she managed to do that, she became aware of the fact that she was already experiencing a new, different sensation, a sensation of even more heat unexpectedly spreading across her body all of a sudden as she realized that her tiny frame, still slightly shaking up until then, was being wrapped in something that made all the coldness disappear as fast as if it was never there…

His arms were carefully making sure that her entire body was covered by his long coat that he took off just to offer her some much-needed warmth, making her feel his heat against every single part of her exposed skin now, and at the same time providing her with the equally needed feeling that at least some of her dignity was given back to her by this respectful gesture, a gesture that clearly showed her that he had no intention of looking at her uncovered body if she didn’t wish for it.

And for some reason that very gesture made her feel a strange mix of intertwining emotions which she couldn’t even describe, however which were so intense and piercing that they made tears appear in her eyes all of a sudden, tears that were already rolling down her face completely against her will and she simply couldn’t stop them no matter how hard she tried. This was the first time in an entire month that somebody treated her and her body, her body which even in her own eyes lost all its dignity, with such respect and care… it felt as if he didn’t see what she’s become after what his brother has done to her, it felt as if he saw more in her than just her scars and her humiliating past, it felt as if he saw more worth in her than she did in herself…

,,Thank you,” she whispered quietly after a while when she already decided to give up the futile fight against those tears, her shaky fingers grabbing his coat around her and pulling it even closer to herself, holding onto it with a subconscious tenacious grip, ,,you have no idea how much I needed this… all of this.”

,,You have nothing to thank me for,” he answered, his words more true than she could understand right now, since she knew nothing about his selfish motives and about the fact that the reason for his help was far from what it appeared to be, ,,it was the least that I owed you after seeing everything that my brother has done to you… and I know that he has probably given you more than just a few memories you don’t want to think about, but if you could tell me what and why was he doing this to you… perhaps I could help you…”

After he said those words, he slowly put one arm around her waist once again, pulling her fragile frame trembling from sobs against his chest gently and letting her rest her head on his shoulder, meanwhile he lifted his other hand and touched her face covered in tears, and after he saw that she was comfortable with his touch, he wiped the those tears away in the most calming, most soothing way he could. 

He couldn’t deny that all of a sudden he was feeling torn about his actions… hasn’t that poor girl gone through enough suffering already? Didn’t she deserve more than this false comfort, this shameless lie and this despicable deception? She was putting her complete trust in him right now, and she was doing it in such a desperate, yet innocent way that for some reason his heart ached with pity for her, it ached with pity for her future-self that would discover that none of his pretended feelings were true and that in her inexperienced naivety she has given all of her trust to a wrong man, to a man who was fooling her the entire time and felt nothing towards her at all…

He has never been an extremely compassionate person, quite apparently, if he had been, he wouldn’t have taken the innocence of so many young, beautiful fairies just for his own pleasure, he never really listened to the voice of his conscience, and in fact throughout all those years he might even have forgotten that he had one, however right now, for some reason, he simply couldn’t ignore the loud scream of that voice telling him that this was wrong, that he shouldn’t be doing this, that he should stop while he still could…

He didn’t know what has changed so much inside him that all of a sudden he could hear his moral sense so loud and clear. Perhaps it was that moment back then, a month ago early in the morning, when he experienced so much pure, unselfish, unrestrained compassion, that it now made him feel bound to repay that kindness by following its example?

Not that it mattered that much. Because deep inside he knew that no matter how loud his inner voice screamed, it wouldn’t change his mind anyway. He had to do this… he had to, because compassion and kindness were not the things that might save the girl whom he owed so much. On the other hand, repaying his debt to Ariadne… that was his one and only chance to save Flora’s life.

,,I… I don’t know…,” she said in a shaky voice after a few moments when she finally decided to answer his question about this particularly sore spot of hers, ,,I don’t know why is he doing this to me… I knew that he wanted me for a long time, and I must admit that a part of me wanted him as well, however I never even imagined that all of that innocent flirtation and mutual attraction could ever turn out like this one day… I had no idea what he was capable of. And I’m so ashamed of myself… I have hated myself every single day for an entire month now, all because I couldn’t get rid of the idea that even though he is undeniably a monster, all of this is my fault anyway… I should have been able to control myself, I shouldn’t have tempted him when I realized it all too well how dangerous and irresponsible my actions were, I realized it all along and despite that I wasn’t able to stop… I guess that I have lost all respect for myself at this point, not just because of that brutal, monstrous rape I had to endure almost every single night, but mostly because deep inside I realize that I’m the one to blame for everything that has happened to me…”

She didn’t even know where all those words were coming from, she didn’t understand why she was pouring her entire heart out to a stranger, because despite everything that’s exactly what he was to her at this point, no matter how soothing and comforting his presence was. However, telling him about everything that was tormenting her like a heavy burden on her soul for such a long time, it came as naturally and spontaneously that she simply couldn’t make herself stop, she just must have told somebody, no matter who it was, she just must have let it out and stopped keeping all of that pain in her own heart without at least trying to reach out for help… 

And she would have told him more, she would have told him about her every single regret, about all of her guilt and shame, about all of her consuming hatred towards his brother, she would have told him about her darkest memories from the last nights, she would not avoid even the most painful, most humiliating details, because she felt that if she said all of those things out loud, no matter how hard it would be, then she would at least finally get the much-needed relief coming from sharing her burden with someone else… at the end of the day, she felt that she could truly tell him everything, since she had no real reason to care what he would think about her after finding out about all the suffering that she’s been through. However, even though she wanted to tell him, she couldn’t, as all of a sudden she realized that her sobs and tears have become so intense that they have taken over her completely, not letting her say one more word…

She covered her face with her palms and let the tears, that tonight seemed as if they simply couldn’t be stopped, roll down her cheeks, meanwhile she was desperately trying to calm down as soon as possible and hold her loud sobs back. 

But all of a sudden she became aware of the fact that his strong arms were already wrapped around her, pulling her so close to himself, so tightly and yet so carefully, one of his hand around her waist, meanwhile the other one gently laying her head on his shoulder, letting her rest and relax in his embrace, seemingly without judging her for her humiliation at all, without sharing any of the disgust she felt towards herself, quite on the contrary…

And that tender gesture made her sobs sound and feel even more vulnerable and uncontrollable, since she simply wasn’t able to recall the last time when somebody treated her with so much care and respect… his touch was like a balm healing her wounded soul and his presence was all that she could wish for in that very moment. And she couldn’t even describe how desperate she was already becoming for the comfort of his arms, how desperate she was becoming to feel that warmth every single night from now on…

,,Oh, my poor, sweet girl… you have been though a lot, haven’t you?” he asked in a soft, compassionate voice as he continued stroking her hair slowly, ,,I’m so sorry… I had no idea my brother was doing this to you. If I only knew sooner, perhaps I could do something about it and not let you suffer here all alone… but don’t worry, now that you’ve told me all of this, I will not just stay by and do nothing about it.”

As he said those words, she immediately pulled back a little and lifted her head so that she could look at him once again, unable to suppress the subtle, yet undeniable flickers of hope reflecting in her big, lavender eyes. 

,,You… you would do that for me…?” she asked in a quiet, shaky whisper, and just a second later she found herself in his embrace once again as she flung her arms around his neck and held onto him with such a desperate grip as if she never wanted to let go of him again, ,,oh, please, Anagan, I beg you, help me… please save me from this hell…!”

,,I will…,” he said tenderly as he protectively embraced her small frame, ,,don’t worry, Roxy… I promise I will. You can trust me… I know that our relationship in the past has been… far from ideal, to say the least, however that doesn’t mean that I can bear to see you suffer like this every single day. You don’t deserve this… and even though Ogron is my brother, I simply can’t stand by and do nothing about the fact that he is acting like a monstrous animal to you. He has no right to hurt you like this… and I will do everything in my power to convince him to let you go.”

His words sounded like a dream, a beautiful, surreal dream that would soon fade away if she opened her eyes… and that’s why she kept them closed, she kept them closed the entire time, even when she felt that he has taken his coat off her body, laid her down on the bed, slowly let her go and tucked her in, and even though she missed his warmth and his pleasant scent, she felt just as safe as if he was still holding her.

,,Get some sleep now… you must be tired. And sooner or later, I promise that I will get you out of here. Everything will be alright, Roxy, you’ll see, you are safe now and I will protect you, you just have to trust me…”


	28. The Weight of a Secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys! So, this time it finally hasn't taken me an entire month to write a chapter (yaaay), which I'm extremely happy about and hope that I'll make some of you happy with this update too :D I really enjoyed writing this chapter (maybe that's why I've written it so fast :D) so I really hope you'll like it too :D If you do, please leave me a comment or Kudos, your support is extremely important for me and it really gives me so much motivation to continue to write this story, your opinion is the best inspiration I can get ♥ I love reading all your comments, I'm open to constructive criticism and discussion, so please let me know what you think, it's really _very_ important to me, there is nothing better for an author than to have an interaction with the fans of their story and know their opinions :D Especially now, when in the last few chapter this story has taken a more serious turn, I would really like to know what you think about that, whether you like it or not, so please, just let me know :D
> 
> And of course, thanks for all your amazing support so far ♥
> 
> (P.S. to happy_ narwal11: heyyy, sorry for this, I really don't mean to bother or annoy you or anything, I'm just wondering, are you still there? XD just let me know if you can, I miss your comments (I'm so sorry for being an annoying comment-needy author, but your support for this story really means a lot to me, so I just had to ask, I hope you're okay and everything is fine ♥).

A quiet sound of knocking suddenly woke Roxy up from her restless, shallow sleep, making her open her eyes immediately and get up from the bed as fast as possible. Despite the fact that she has just woken up, she didn’t feel any drowsiness at all, quite on the contrary, that faint, incessant sound coming from the other side of the door made her breath quicken and hear thump with excitement and anticipation, and the idea of the sweet, well-deserved rest suddenly lost all of its appeal in comparison to what, in fact whom, she was expecting to see.

She rushed quickly the place where the quiet sound was coming from, completely mindless of the fact that she wasn’t wearing anything at all, her heart seemingly beating faster and faster each second. She opened the door abruptly.

,,Is it safe? Did you make sure he won’t find you here?” she asked in a quiet, fearful whisper, but despite the justified worry in her words, she couldn’t suppress their somehow desperate eagerness.

,,Of course I did. You know I always do, you have nothing to worry about…”

That was all she needed to hear. She didn’t even let him finish his words, she grabbed his clothes with a sudden tenacious grip and pulled him inside immediately. 

Their lips collided with a breathtaking force and their bodies met with a harsh impact. His arms trapped her in their fierce, passionate embrace. They lost their balance and stumbled backwards, ending with her back against the wall and his hands on her hips, pulling her even closer. Her heart was racing, she could hear its erratic thumping in her ears, her blood was hot and it felt as if her entire body was on fire, oh but she loved those ferocious flames eating her up alive, she loved them so much that she would let them burn her to death and ashes without a second thought if she had the chance…

She buried her fingers in his hair and let him deepen their kiss. It was so long since they were able to meet like this… and every single night when they couldn’t, she was insufferably tortured by the lack of his touch, that harsh, merciless torment driving her wild day by day, all that longing growing inside her uncontrollably until she wasn’t able to think about anything else, knowing that if she didn’t meet him soon, she would go insane from that terrible need to be with him…

His hands gripped her waist and it felt as if he was desperate that he couldn’t bring her close enough. His lips were already having hers, but they felt always more and more hungry. He must have been starving for her just as much as she was for him…

And all of a sudden, his touch was gone. All she could hear were their loud, intense gasps for air. How come that in the heat of their feverish reunion she had completely forgotten that she needed to take a breath…?

,,Anagan…,” she whispered his name somewhere between the heavy rising and falling of her chest, ,,… you have no idea how much I’ve missed you…”

His lips tasted hers once again, however this time in a more tender, soothing way. This was the kind of a kiss that she was used to receiving from him. Gentle, caring, comforting, making her forget about all the things that tortured her mind. In fact, what happened before was one of the very few heated, passionate kisses they have ever shared, however given the circumstances it seemed inevitable.

,,Even if I wasn’t able to imagine it until now, I think that you have just shown it to me pretty clearly…,” he chuckled quietly as his lips travelled slowly along her jawline and down to her neck, their familiar softness making shivers run down her spine, ,,… but believe me, I craved holding you even more than you did, my love…”

,,Oh, I was cursing you for not coming sooner…,” she managed to utter in a half-serious tone between her quiet gasps and moans.

The next thing she knew was that she was already lifted up in his strong arms as he was carrying her away with so much ease as if she weighed no more than a feather. He sat down on the bed with an intention to have a better look at her ever-present scars and bruises that he carefully healed every time when he secretly managed to visit her.

,,And I was cursing my brother every single night when I imagined him doing this to you…,” he whispered, his breath tickling her neck as his light fingers caressed her still fresh love marks, ,,I’m so sorry that I couldn’t come sooner… it was not safe, he might have found us here together…”

,,Don’t apologize,” she sighed, trying to hide the pain in her voice, ,,I know you’re doing what you can. And besides, I suppose that neither of us would like to experience Ogron’s wrath if he found out that his little whore is secretly meeting his brother… and is secretly in love with him, so in love that she’s going insane …”

It was true. Just a month ago her life seemed hopeless and dark, just a month ago she felt as if her entire existence was just a cold desert of numb emotions and cruel guilt tearing her to pieces every single day. However, the moment he came into that seemingly meaningless life that she hated so much, so many things have changed all of a sudden… 

In the beginning, she was careful when it came to giving him her trust. Something inside her was telling her to build tall, impenetrable walls around her heart, something was telling her to obey that instinct of protecting herself from ever falling for another man, especially when that man was who he was, given the fact that she knew already what kind of dangerous consequences an irrational infatuation with a dark wizard could have… however, day by day those walls were falling into ruins. Helplessly and inevitably. And when she tasted his lips for the first time, all of those doubts and worries faded away in the sweet rapture of that beautiful, enchanted moment.

Soon he became her everything. He was her air, her blood, he was the sole hopeful promise giving her life and the will not to give up that tormenting fight. He was one of the reasons why she made a promise to herself never to enjoy Ogron’s intimate touch again, no matter how tempting in was after she already knew all about that irresistible pleasure that he could give her every single night. However, she chose a different path and the handsome dark-skinned wizard who entered her life so unexpectedly was the most important reason for making such a hard decision. 

How could she enjoy being intimate with a man she hated when all she wanted was to save such beautiful, precious moments for the man she loved…? Yes, she did love him. It took some time and quite a lot of subconscious denial to finally accept that fact, however she hasn’t had a single doubt about her feelings ever since she finally admitted them. To herself and to him as well. And oh, how wonderful it felt to hear the same words from his lips as well… it was all she needed to fall for him even harder and realize that this man was all she ever wanted in her life. That she would give him everything. That she _wanted_ to give him everything. He was her hope, her savior, her only light in the dark. 

He promised her that he would take her away… somewhere where Ogron would never find them. And she believed in that promise every single day and prayed for that moment to finally arrive. She would let him take her anywhere, she would go with him without any questions, she trusted him with her life and there was nothing that could change it, not even the fact that their secret relationship has barely been lasting a for few weeks yet. However, she needed no proof of his intentions. His kindness, his tenderness, the loving way he took care of her, the way he looked at her and the way his lips felt against hers, that was her proof.

,,Don’t say such things,” his words suddenly interrupted her thoughts, together with his fingers catching her chin and gently lifting it up to make her look into his deep dark eyes, ,,don’t call yourself his whore ever again. I don’t want you to think of yourself that way. You’re so much more than what he makes you feel like, do you understand?”

,,That’s so easy to say,” she sighed, turning her eyes away, ,,but it’s hard not to feel like a whore when you’re treated like one. In fact, no… please forget that I said anything. I don’t want you to imagine the things I’m doing with him… I would feel even more disgusting. I feel like I’m losing a part of myself every single night, that I’m being stripped of something that should be mine to give, but it’s not… of something that I want to give to a completely different man than to that sick bastard. Oh, Anagan, I can’t help but always think about how different things might have been between us if it wasn’t for him… if it wasn’t for the way he scarred me for the rest of my life. If I could actually make the choice about the man whom I gave my body for the first time…”

All of a sudden, she became aware of the slightly uncomfortable sensation of his spell against her skin, however after so many times that Anagan has taken care of her wounds his skills involving healing magic have fortunately gotten a lot better, so the spell was far from being as unpleasant as it was for the first time. 

,,It makes no difference,” he said softly while the bruises underneath his fingers were slowly changing their shade from reddish purple back to the natural light color of her milky complexion, ,,you have no lesser worth because of the things he made you do.”

,,But still… I wish… I wish my first time was with you.”

His fingers suddenly stopped moving as if they have been turned into stone the moment she said those words. Lying to her every single day and making her fall for him was one thing but seeing that his despicable pretense has manipulated her innocent feelings and her naive heart so much to say something like that was quite another. 

Yes, he has made peace with the fact that he was using her. Yes, he accepted it that he will break this poor girl’s trusting little heart. Yes, he learned to live with the fact that he will shatter one young, pure dream into million small pieces, that he will witness that hopeful light fading away from those big lavender eyes, that he will perhaps even be the one to suffocate the desire for life itself inside her… he learned to pretend, he learned to play his part so well that she believed him his every single kiss, his every single declaration of love, his every single word…overall, he should feel satisfied. He’s undeniably done a good job and if he manages to finish the final act, Ariadne will give him what he was promised. 

However, despite his best efforts of convincing himself about the vast depth of indifference he felt towards the girl in his arms, he couldn’t deny that her words have hurt him. Like a dagger of guilt sinking deep into his heart. That girl loved him. Truly, honestly, and purely. For her, he was life itself. For him, she was just a mere tool. 

,,Is something wrong…?” he suddenly heard her unsure voice that interrupted his thoughts, ,,I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable with what I said… I just wanted you to know. To know how much you meant to me…”

,,No, not at all, my love, everything is alright,” he faked a reassuring smile and somehow managed to make himself concentrate on finishing the spell, leaving her body healed and without any pain, however also using his magic to give back the original discoloration of her white skin to make sure his brother wouldn’t get suspicious. 

,,I think I will be able to get you out of here soon, Roxy,” he changed the topic quickly, deciding to focus on what he had to do instead of dwelling on his guilt, ,,just hang in there for about one more week, and you’ll never have to see my brother again, I promise. We’ll be together, we’ll have everything we ever wanted… and I’ll keep you safe by my side, I’ll never allow anybody to hurt you again…”

As he said those words, he gently touched her chin once again and lifted it up to unite their lips in a soft, comforting kiss, a kiss that was supposed to be the symbol of his false promise and his pretendedly undying, however in reality mockingly nonexistent love. 

But this time there was something different about the way she accepted that touch. Instead of relaxing against him and letting his lips lead after she gave in like she always used to, she wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, moving closer to his lap, which resulted in her ending up in a surprisingly and undeniably suggestive position… especially given the fact that her lips were so unusually eager and her body still completely naked. 

That was all he needed to break the kiss and pull away, quickly, however not too abruptly, careful not to show her how uncomfortable her actions immediately made him. No… there was no way… that would be too much. He could never. Kissing her, taking care of her, holding her, stroking her hair until she fell asleep, that was alright. However, this most certainly wasn’t. Not because he didn’t find her attractive, oh no, quite the contrary, in fact when his eyes fell on her in that moment, he suddenly started being aware of that familiar, tempting need creeping over him like a shadow, clouding his senses and making him want to take everything he was apparently being offered… he knew that sweet, dark desire only too well and never in his life, not even once, did he try to resist it.

,,Roxy… what are you doing…?” he whispered quietly.

,,Will it be dangerous?”

,,What do you mean…?”

,,Getting me out of here. Will it be dangerous? I’m sure it will… defying Ogron can’t be anything else.”

,,We will be alright, I promise…”

,,How can you promise something like that? You can’t, Anagan… Ogron is the most powerful wizard on Earth. And he would never let me go. He wants me, he sees me as something of his… and he would never allow anybody to steal what belongs to him. If he caught us… I don’t even want to think about what he would do to us. Well, he can’t hurt me much more than he already did, but I’m afraid of what he might do to you…,” she whispered, her shaky fingers caressing his face, fear and desire flashing in her eyes like small flickers of strangely contrasting emotions.

,,I’m his brother, my love… we are family. He won’t hurt me, not really…” he said in a soothing, reassuring tone, doing his best to keep his mind from thinking about the sinful desires that incessantly kept finding their way into his head.

,,Don’t underestimate what he’s capable of,” she interrupted him, her voice trembling, ,,you have no idea how much he wants me… he’s like an animal, a predator that will kill anybody who dares to even come close to his prey… and I know you don’t believe that he might hurt you because fell in love with me, but you didn’t see how he looks at me during all those nights, you didn’t see that wild, insane lust in his eyes, you didn’t see how he longs for me… and that’s why I’m so afraid, my love. I don’t want him to hurt you…”

,,Even if he did, I would to this for you. I will help you escape no matter what…”

,,Then we might never see each other again. And that’s exactly why we should do this now.”

He almost flinched when she said those words. No, she couldn’t mean that… she couldn’t want such a thing from him. Oh, please, just not this… he has deceived her with his false love more than enough already. It will already be hard for her to put the broken pieces of her heart back together after he shatters it so mercilessly in the end. But if they were to do this… he didn’t even want to imagine the amount of that agonizing pain he would cause her when abandoning her and letting her live with the fact that she gave everything to a man who used her, and after getting what he wanted threw her away like a useless, worthless thing. 

,,Roxy, please, my love, calm down, you’re not thinking straight,” he tried to convince her in a soft, tender whisper, ,,everything will be alright, and there is no need to rush such things… there’s a time for everything, but this definitely isn’t the right time for taking such an important step…”

,,Why not?” she interrupted him abruptly, the flames of desire burning in her eyes seemingly more and more with each passing moment, ,,what is wrong with this time? What is wrong with right here and right now? Oh, please, Anagan, stop torturing me like this! Don’t you see me? Don’t you see how _desperate_ I am for you? Please, all this talking and waiting is killing me… I beg you, just take me…!”

She couldn’t deny the fact that there wasn’t a lot of rational thinking involved in her passionate, eager pleas. However, at this point all of her desires were making perfect sense. Who knows what might happen once they try to escape… who knows whether she would ever see him again if Ogron caught them. All she could think about in that moment was that man’s insane, animalistic possessiveness, his brutal need to always let her know that she belonged to him and no one else… what would happen if he knew that it was his brother who owned her heart? If there was one thing she knew for sure, it was that Ogron would punish them both for such an act of defiance, and without any doubt a part of that punishment would be making sure that they would never see each other again… and that idea alone was clouding her judgement with such an extreme fear, a consuming, terrible fear close to insanity… 

That’s why she needed him so much to take her, immediately, on the spot. However in fact not just because of that… oh, the idea of his body making love to hers was a sweet temptation that kept lingering somewhere in the back of her mind from the day they shared their very first kiss… their very first kiss when his lips were so tender and loving, when his arms were holding her so tightly and so gently at the same time, and his eyes were looking at her as if she was the most precious person in the world… that kiss made her wonder and ask every single day ever since, what would it feel like to make love to somebody who actually loved her…? And there was no doubt about the fact that he was an extraordinarily handsome, attractive man as well, so there was also no wonder that such temptations were on her mind day and night…

However, now it was more than just a temptation. Now she was burning with desire and longing. She was burning to be his. She was burning to make their love complete. And if he didn’t extinguish that fire inside her by giving her what she needed so desperately, she was sure she would go up in flames tonight…

,,Are you… are you absolutely sure you want this?” he asked quietly, cupping her small face and looking deep into her eyes, ,,don’t get me wrong, Roxy… I long for you too, but first and foremost I have to make sure you are not begging me for something you will regret later… I care for you too much to be the cause of your pain. And there will be plenty of time for such things once we escape together…”

,, _If_ we escape together. And I could never regret such a thing. Never. I want to give myself to the man I love… and I want the man who loves me to show me what making love is truly about. I was raped by your brother countless times, Anagan… and you can’t imagine the wounds he gave me. Wounds I thought would never heal… but now I believe that some of them might, now I believe _you_ could be the one to heal them if you just showed me how being truly intimate with someone feels like… oh, please, show me, Anagan, I beg you…”

She leaned towards him and planted a soft, yet seductive slow kiss on his lips.

,,I beg you…”

What choice did he have now? Seeing how desperate and determined at the same time she was, he knew that there was no way out of this. If he rejected her now, he would have no good, no believable reason for his inexplicable answer. What kind of a man would refuse to sleep with the girl he loves when she wants him to take her so badly? How could he explain such a denial? 

_,,I’m so sorry, little fairy. You leave me no choice. I wash my hands of your poor, vulnerable heart… I tried my best. The only thing I can do now is hope that you’ll learn from this and won’t trust every stranger who declares his love to you without any proof, and mostly that you won’t just give him your body so carelessly and so naively… for your own good. I would know better than anyone. I suppose you could say that bodies are like flowers… if they gets touched by too many different people, they lose their beauty in a certain way, they wilt somehow… I lost that beauty of mine many years ago, so I just hope you won’t lose yours.”_

The next thing she knew was that she was already lying on the bed, his body without clothes on the top of hers, his hot skin warming her in a way Ogron’s never did. His lips on hers and only a few breathless, heated moments separating them from unleashing the untamed animal of their searing desires… 

,,Then I’m all yours tonight…,” he whispered and immediately heard a soft moan of her pleasure as he made his false, heartless pretense of love complete.

Days and nights have been passing. Days filled with guilt and shame and nights overdosed on the small solace he was getting from the temporary shallow satisfaction of his body. He dreaded and loved those nights at the same time, because he knew that they were the only part of the day when he was able to think about something else than the destroyed life and the broken heart he would leave behind very soon, but on the other hand he knew that the more times he would make love to her, the more would his conscience torment him until one day he wouldn’t be able to take it anymore. 

Yes, strangely enough and despite all his intentions he managed to create some sort of an inexplicable emotional connection to the girl, however it was far from the love he was fooling her with. He didn’t love her in the way she believed he did, however he couldn’t deny that there was an unfamiliar feeling growing inside him gradually, a feeling of a strange protectiveness and an undeniable need to keep her safe. No, he didn’t understand, but neither did he try to. Perhaps this was the way his heart tried to protect him from the cruel attacks of his surprisingly relentless conscience. 

However, the day when all of this would be over was drawing near. Gradually and inevitably, and so his inner voice only kept tormenting him more and more, making it almost impossible to make love to her without letting her know how wrong and shameful that felt. For the first time in his life the burning addictive ecstasy of physical pleasure lost all its tantalizing allure and slowly turned into suffering. Who knows, perhaps this was his punishment for all those times when he caused so much pain to those young, beautiful fairies that he took for the most selfish, most shameless reasons… now he was the one in pain. He was in so much pain because he knew that every single kiss, every single touch, every single moan he drew from her lips was like a weapon, a dagger that would eventually sink deep into her trusting, pure heart and make it bleed with the color of his terrible lies until here would be no life left inside her anymore.

And somewhere between the intimate whisperings of love, heated kisses and tears of shame he managed to talk to Ariadne, he managed to let her know that the trust she wanted him to gain was now his completely and so his debt was repaid and his mission over. He couldn’t bear to do it anymore. However, she refused to have mercy on him so soon. She told him he would stay indebted to her until he actually escaped with the young fairy, escaped from her twin-brother and brought her to a place she told him about, and then disappeared for good, as his mission would only then be truly completed. That was what he was supposed to do. Abandon an innocent, inexperienced girl who trusted him with his life, leave her at the mercy of a formidable, cruel, wicked sorceress, whose intentions with her were a complete and impenetrable mystery to him. 

His newly found sense of responsibility for the fairy’s fate left him feeling restless when he imagined all the troubling possibilities of what could become of her in Ariadne’s hands, so the least he could do was to try to find out what her plans were and what she needed her for, however the beautiful red-haired sorceress was like ice and stone, unrelenting and uncompromising when it came to her obscure intentions, which she considered none of his business. So he had no choice now, he would leave Roxy at her mercy and then disappear from her life, quietly and inconspicuously as if he was never there, just like a shadow, like an elusive smoke leaving behind nothing but a burnt scent of heartless betrayal. Destroying one girl and saving another. A life for a life. 

Somewhere between those distant, yet painful thoughts he found himself quietly knocking on her door. Soon she would come, soon she would open that door abruptly and fling her arms around his neck, uniting their lips with a desperate passion like always, and as he would step inside her hands would instinctively start taking his clothes off while expecting him to do the same for her. Little did she know that today his plans with her were different. Little did she know that the day before was her last chance to make love to that treacherous bastard who pretended to be her lover. Well, perhaps it was for the best that she would never give herself to him again. 

The door flew open and in a spilt second he found her in his arms, just as he expected. Catching a glimpse of the eagerness in her eyes was enough for him to know that all she wanted was to unite their lips in a searing, passionate kiss, however this time he didn’t let her, pressing two fingers gently against her mouth and lifting her chin to make her look at him. 

,,Not this time, my love. We must go. I found a way how we can escape… and we must do it today, or there might not be another chance for us.”

,,What…? What do you mean…? You said we would have to wait a little longer to…”

,,I know. But plans have changed and we must go now. Come on, we can’t lose much time.”

He tried to hurry her up so that she wouldn’t ask any more questions and, most importantly, so that she wouldn’t notice the barely hidden guilt in his eyes and the slight tremble in his quiet voice. He needed her to trust him, now more than ever, however internally he felt more doubts about his actions than ever before. He didn’t want to talk more than it was absolutely necessary. Words could only reveal his lies. He just needed her to follow him, to trust him one last time… and then it would be all over. But would it really…?

,,Alright then… I’m ready to go,” she said after quickly grabbing her jacket and putting her shoes on, the shock in her voice caused by this unexpected turn of events still there, however the determination and eagerness to finally end her suffering somehow managing to suppress it, ,,lead the way…”

He didn’t need to hear anything else, he grabbed her hand and wanted to run towards her inevitable fate as fast as possible, he wanted to rush towards it and do anything, even throw her into the jaws of death if he had to, so that he wouldn’t accidentally change his mind, which was something he was very strongly tempted to do indeed. Oh, why was that strange protective instinct towards her taking over him so mercilessly? Why now of all times? He had no real reason to care… and yet he did. 

The only thing he wanted to do was to take her away, but not to the place where he was supposed to, no, somewhere far away, away from his cruel brother and his bloodthirsty twin, away from their wicked games of revenge that she was now apparently involuntarily a part of… he just wanted to take her to safety, somewhere where he could wrap his arms around her tightly and promise her, this time honestly, that he wouldn’t ever allow anybody to hurt her. He wanted to protect her and take care of her, he wanted to love her, however not in a way he pretended to, he didn’t want to see her as a lover nor ever touch her intimately ever again, he simply wanted to love her in that unselfish, caring way, perhaps see her as his little sister… 

But did it matter what he wanted…? 

He started leading her away, however after just a few steps he suddenly felt her hands grabbing his arm him abruptly, making him stop and turn around.

,,What’s wrong…?”

,,Nothing… I just wanted to say… thank you, Anagan. For everything,” she whispered, leaning towards him and planting a small, quick kiss on his lips. 

For a few moments he wasn’t able to move, he just stood there as if that touch has turned him into stone. Oh, that trust, that innocence, that pure, honest love… 

_,,How can I do this…? I must stop, I must stop now while there is still time... I know, a month ago I told myself that I would do whatever it takes to save the life of the girl who saved mine… but how is carrying the responsibility for different a fate any better? Can I really wash my hands of Roxy just like that because I’m fighting for a good cause? Will my conscience be clear then, or will I just keep falling into that dark place of shame and disgust, always deeper and deeper? Not that it really matters… there is never a right decision when one has to decide between two lives…”_

,,Come, we can’t afford to lose time,” he managed to force an answer out of his inexplicably dry throat, ignoring her thankful words, since the usual reply they required would feel not only unfitting, but also completely disrespectful or even mocking.

He grabbed her hand once again and started leading her away with hurried steps, fighting back the voices inside his head, and just somewhere in the back of his mind vaguely realizing the sound of her heavy breaths, since even though he wasn’t running, she, being considerably smaller and shorter than him, probably must have been.

He knew the house like the back of his hand, of course he did, it used to be his home for such a long time, but despite that fact he felt as if he was getting lost somewhere in that dark twilight and eerie silence as they were passing through the corridors, which seemed somehow strangely longer than he remembered them, the sound of his thumping heart and quickened breaths so quiet and yet so deafening, his mind barely able to think straight and his legs barely able to carry him.

Just a few more steps and they would be outside. Just a few more steps and then into that cold, soundless night, where all he had to do was use a spell to make them appear at the place they were supposed to end… so little was separating him from finally getting what he was fighting for. 

He was only hoping that until then none of his brother would find him escaping with her like that… mostly because the reason why he was helping Roxy was not the only thing he would have to try to explain somehow. In fact, his brothers had no idea that he ever came back… because he came back to their house, but never to them. All of his late-night visits were a secret, a secret that under no circumstances could be exposed… because he couldn’t bear the idea of seeing their faces again. Especially Ogron’s… especially the face of the man who was responsible for the death of his beloved little brother. Yes, no matter how much it hurt, his brothers were in the past now, all of them, in the past that should be forgotten, consigned to oblivion for good. And yes, such a decision was terribly painful as well… however it was the only way to protect the small remnants of his heart that somehow miraculously still managed to survive.

But that was enough of such thoughts. His hand opened the door and suddenly they were surrounded by that peaceful, yet somehow terrifyingly quiet twilight. 

This was his last chance to change his mind. And oh, the temptation to do it was growing so unbearably intense… if he used his magic to teleport them now, there would be no going back. This was the very moment he had to decide. 

,,Anagan…?” he hear her quiet, scared whisper, ,,Anagan what are you doing…? Why are we stopping, we must go…!”

His gaze fell upon her. On her fearful and yet trusting eyes in the dim moonlight. On his hand holding hers with a firm, tenacious grip. Her pale face with nervous anticipation written all over it. 

And that’s when he decided. 

_,,If I don’t sacrifice you, your friend will die… you will hate me either way, no matter what my choice will be. And besides, if I don’t do this, Flora will die beyond any doubt, meanwhile you might not lose your life after all… maybe, just maybe, and I really hope it’s that way, you’ll lose less than she would have if I didn’t to this. I’m so sorry, my sweet, pure Roxy…”_

He grabbed her other hand and took a deep breath. He needed a calm mind and a clear head for this spell, so he had to put everything else, especially strong, turbulent emotions, aside. The decision was made anyway. 

,,We don’t need to run anywhere. Just trust me… just one more time.”

As he said those words, a dark, ominous cloud of black smoke and eerie shadows has emerged from the ground and trapped them both in its powerful embrace, his magic wrapping itself around them like a dangerous snake whose cruel venom of betrayal would soon poison her blood for good…

However, her eyes seemed calm and serene, even though they could probably barely see anything in the darkness that has engulfed them. Still trusting him, until the very last moment… 

And all of a sudden, the black shadows and the sensation of strong, forceful magic abducting their bodies to an unknown place were both gone. 

They were standing in some sort of a hallway in a big, expensively furnished house, however the vast darkness and the unsettling silence surrounding them made the place feel like it hasn’t been visited by single soul for a long time. He had no idea what this place was, since Ariadne wasn’t exactly keen on sharing any more information with him than it was absolutely necessary, however a sudden wave of relief washed over him now when he saw that the place where he was to leave Roxy at least didn’t seem dangerous or terrifying, or at least not too much. But well, who knows…? The first impression can always be deceptive…

,,Anagan… where are we…?” she asked in a quiet whisper, unsure of her feelings about this place. 

Something in there seemed strangely unsettling, she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, however she knew for certain that her instincts were telling her something was wrong. But then, he wouldn’t lead her anywhere where it might be dangerous, would he? He said he was taking her to safety, so it must have been alright… whatever this place was, she trusted him completely to protect her and make sure nothing would happen to her. 

,,You’ll find out soon enough, little fairy.”

Her heart skipped a beat when she heard that voice. And so did his. Perhaps even more than just a single beat in his case…

Anagan wasn’t sure whether his heart wasn’t beating at all or whether it was thumping with an uncontrollable force when he turned around in the direction where the voice was coming from and witnessed with his own eyes a sight he never expected to see again.

,,Have you missed me, brother?” 

His words were mocking and the tone of his voice as cold as ice, however none of that mattered in that moment. Was this some sort of a trick…? This could not be real, it surely couldn’t… he saw him die, for goodness’ sake…! He was there by his side, holding his hand when he drew his last breath. But now his brother was standing right there, right in front of him, and he was not a ghost, he was not a phantom nor a wishful dream… covered by the shadows, his golden eyes were glowing with that familiar light that always seemed to be shining so bright in the darkness. He was alive. 

But how was that possible…? How does one just rise from the dead…? 

,,So much you can’t find the right words now, I see,” Duman scoffed, taking a few steps to leave the dark embrace of the ghostly shadows, ,,but that’s just fine by me… please, don’t bother with any touching gestures or tears of disbelief. You’ve done your job well, _brother_. That’s all we needed you for. And now that it’s finished, you’re free to go. Go back to… whatever you can go back to, go back to that shallow existence you call your life. And don’t show your face here ever again. We’re done with you.”

,,What… what do you mean by _we_ …?” he whispered quietly, unable to ask anything else for some inexplicable reason, even though his mind was exploding with so many questions that desperately needed answers. 

He knew that he and Duman have had some differences in the past and that his youngest brother was not exactly proud to call himself his family… however he never imagined he could be so cold, so indifferent, so cruel. He just found out that he was alive, for goodness’ sake, after he thought he would never get to see him again… didn’t he deserve at least _some_ explanation? Did he truly despise him so much that he couldn’t even tell him how it was possible that he survived?

However, for some reason all of those questions were stuck somewhere inside his throat and refused to make their way out, making him ask about something entirely different. It’s wasn’t like he didn’t want to know the answer to that mystery too. Oh no, on the contrary, he was more than curious to find out what on Earth was going on between his little brother and that wicked, cruel sorceress who used to be their prey throughout all those long centuries, and who almost died at the hands of the shapeshifter, who, however, now seemed to have formed a very different relationship with her than he used to have before… none of that seemed to make any sense… however there were questions he would perhaps like to ask before he went straight into this. 

,,She’s upstairs,” his brother answered without any emotion in his cold voice, ,,if you have any questions, go and ask her. She wants to talk to you anyway.”

All of a sudden, he felt a strong, tight grip on his forearm that made him turn his gaze back to the young, pink-haired girl by his side.

,,Anagan… Anagan, what is this supposed to mean…?” she asked, panic in her voice and fear appearing in her eyes as she somehow only now started to realize what was going on, ,,please, tell me that this is not true… oh, Anagan, please tell me…”

That desperation in her words, that intense, raw fear, that futile denial… he couldn’t bear to look into those eyes any longer, into those eyes that would soon only reflect so much pain, anger and hatred… and so he turned his gaze away, letting a single tear roll down his cheek. There was no strength left inside him to look at her when saying the next words, shame and regrets took over him completely.

,,I’m so sorry, Roxy… I truly am.”

She felt as if her entire world got shattered into million tiny pieces in that moment. No… this could not be happening. He would… he would never…

,,I… I don’t understand,” she whispered in a shaky, barely audible voice, ,,you said you love me…”

,,Oh, is that what he said?” she heard the shapeshifter’s amused mocking voice all of a sudden, ,,and you truly believed him, you naive, foolish little thing? How pathetic… but don’t worry, little fairy, I suppose you still had it better than so many others… at least he wasn’t fucking you against your will. I don’t know if a lot of fairies except you have been so fortunate to say that…”

,,Stop making it even worse for her!” 

Anagan found himself snapping at him instinctively. It was already terrible enough for her, he didn’t want to see his brother hurting and humiliating her even more than she already was. 

,,Oh, please, as if you cared,” Duman replied with a cruel smirk, ,,as if she meant anything to you. Tell me, brother, did you have fun with this new fuck of yours? You must have missed the days of having a fairy in your bed so badly, is that why you seduced her? Well, whatever the case is, I just hope that the two of you have enjoyed some good time, because it’s over now, especially for you, little fairy.”

She refused to believe the words she was hearing. She simply refused. This must have been some sort of a nightmare, just a terrible dream torturing her in her sleep, just something that would fade away as soon as she’d open her eyes… 

However, all of a sudden she felt the shapeshifter’s strong grip as he harshly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards himself. And it was as if that forceful gesture made the tall, impenetrable wall of denial, that she has built around her heart, finally collapse. 

This was all for real. He has betrayed her. After all that he made her believe. After making her fall for him and making her love him in a way that she had no idea it was even possible to love. Deeply, passionately, boundlessly. After making love to her like she was the only girl in the world. After promising that his feelings for her would never change and that she would always be the most important person for him, the only light of his life.

All of that was a lie. A shameless, despicable pretense. He took all of her, he accepted it when she offered all of herself to him, her heart, her body, her world. And all of it had only one purpose, it all lead to this moment, to the moment when he would betray her and poison their love with the cruel venom of his heartlessness, just like the disgusting snake he was.

,,Stop whining, you pathetic bitch!” 

Duman’s harsh snap was the first thing to make her realize that this was the time to finally face that reality. 

,,Those tears won’t help you anyway… now you’re going to come with me and believe me, what I’m going to do to you will make you wish you had never been so naive to trust the first man who says he loves you…”

,,What are you going to do with her?” Anagan’s voice suddenly interrupted his threatening words that already made shivers of fear run down her spine.

,,That’s none of your business. _She_ is none of your business anymore,” the shapeshifter answered as he tightened the grip of his hand around her arm even more, ,,now get out of here and go talk to Ariadne, she’s already waiting for you. Don’t waste her time for too long… she’s not exactly patient when it comes to such things…”

,,Are you really not going to say anything to me?” the dark-skinned wizard asked quietly, ,,are you really just going to walk away without bothering to say a single word about how you survived? I thought you were dead, Duman, up until today I thought I’ve lost you…”

,,Save it. I have nothing to say to you,” he answered coldly as he started dragging Roxy away, all of her wild attempts to resist completely futile and vain, ,,now go get your reward, that’s the only reason why you’ve been putting on this ridiculous lover boy act, isn’t it?”

,,You son of a bitch!” she shouted at the top of her lungs after hearing those words, while still desperately trying to get rid of Duman’s strong grip and his forceful hands pulling her away, tears rolling down her face uncontrollably, ,,you bastard, how could you…?! I hate you, you monster, you disgusting beast, and I’ll hate you for the rest of my life…!"

He didn’t answer. He didn’t even so much as look at her. How could he reply to those words? No amount of apologies could ever make this right. Every single thing she said, every single name she called him, was nothing but the truth. And he knew he deserved nothing but her hatred and contempt.

She kept shouting her angry insults and spiting her words of rage until her voice gradually faded away as she was dragged towards a destiny he would never wish upon her if he had a choice. However, now was not the time to keep dwelling on regrets. Now was his chance to finally do the right thing. He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself and keep his thoughts as far away from the fate of the young fairy as possible. He slowly started making his way towards the staircase on his left that led to the place where he would hopefully find Ariadne and hopefully get what he was promised in exchange for gaining the girl’s trust and stabbing her in the back in the end. And after Flora’s life would be saved, he could finally get this over with. 

When he walked up the stairs, he immediately noticed an opened door leading to a dimly enlightened room with a pleasant soft scent coming from the inside. He didn’t know whether he was supposed to enter, as he didn’t know whether that was the room he would find her in, however for some inexplicable reason he felt as if that place was somehow calling him, inviting him in… and so he decided not to resist that strange, mysterious urge.

He noticed her right in the moment he set his foot in the room, her back turned to him, she was looking out the window and probably admiring the breathtaking sight, the completely silent, eerie nature covered by the soft rays of cold moonlight and the sea of small, bright stars that were shimmering like precious jewels on the distant black sky.

Her long, blood-red hair was touching her slim waist and covering her back completely, and the lovely curves of her body seemed even more tantalizing in the combination of the cold light of the moon and the warm, soft one radiated from a single candle on her table. She didn’t even have to face him and he was already mesmerized by her tantalizing allure, by that breathtaking beauty that has always fascinated and tempted him so much…

,,Enjoying what you see?”

He almost flinched at those words. How did she even know he was there? He was so careful not to make the smallest sound…

,,I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to interrupt…”

,,You’re not,” she said as she turned around slowly, ,,on the contrary, you’ve let me wait longer that I had expected.”

She took a few steps and ended up right in front of him, her tempting scent driving him wild in a heartbeat. Oh, if he could only have a woman like her… oh, goodness, what would he give for a few moments of pleasure in her company…

,,You didn’t answer my question,” she said, a small, almost seductive smile beginning to play on her lips. 

,,Would I be standing here completely speechless if I wasn’t enjoying what I see?” he answered with another question immediately, his voice a low, slightly suggestive whisper that caressed the side of her neck gently. 

The art of flirtation was something he had been practicing for centuries, both as a way to fight off boredom and perhaps also to get some pleasure for free from the ladies of the night when he found himself in a desperate need of company during the cold lonely winter evenings. And who knows, maybe despite the fact that the beauty in front of his eyes was certainly a complete opposite of such girls in every single way possible, some tempting words and suggestive comments might be enough to earn a few minutes of passion that might be just what they both craved so much in this very moment…

,,I see…,” she smiled at him again and caught his hand gently, ,,beautiful women are truly the only thing you desire, aren’t they, Anagan?”

,,Well, perhaps not the only one… but when I see someone like you, how can I help forgetting that I ever had any other…?” he whispered, his thumb caressing the back of her hand with a light touch, ,,I suppose that some women are just so radiant that they blind every single man who lays his eyes on them, making him forget that there is anyone else in the world…”

,,If it is truly my fault that you’re blinded so much as you say, I suppose I’ll forgive you this once.”

,,Pardon me?” he asked, immediately lifting his gaze in shock to meet her eyes, taken aback even more when he noticed that they have turned as cold as ice.

,,I said that I’ll forgive you this time, Anagan, but if you ever dare to talk to me the way you just did, or look at me like you wanted your eyes to strip off my clothes on the spot, you’ll get something much worse than a warning and a threat in return. I don’t appreciate being looked at as nothing but an object of desire for men, being looked at as a prey that they want to devour to get some selfish satisfaction and shallow pleasure. So, this has happened for the first and the last time now, have I made myself clear?”

Her voice was quiet and threatening, her eyes were glowing with a dangerous light that just as her words suggested that he has decided to walk on a very thin ice indeed. If he had the chance to turn back time and think his seductive suggestions through, he would have done it in a heartbeat. She certainly wasn’t somebody to be trifled with and he was a fool not to keep that in mind before he decided to look at her as if imagined her in his bed already. 

And all of a sudden, he felt an immediate wave of shame washing over him when he realized what he has just fantasized about doing with this woman when not even five minutes ago he sealed the fate of the girl who used to sleep in his arms and look at him as if he was the only light of her life, who used to love him with her whole heart before he betrayed her and possibly destroyed her life forever. Didn’t he have any shame? How could he think about satisfying his body right now after all that has happened? 

,,My apologies,” he hear his words, however he wasn’t sure whether they were meant for Ariadne or for the young fairy somewhere downstairs who was probably already suffering in agony, just because of him, ,,I’m afraid that I have… misunderstood you. It won’t happen again.”

,,I certainly hope so,” she answered, her voice still ice-cold and her piercing eyes sinking right into his soul like sharp daggers.

She was aware of the effect her undeniable beauty had on men and this was neither the first nor the last time when she had to deal with the insatiable lust glowing in their eyes when all they wanted was to take her and make all that beauty belong to them. As if they had any right to do such thing. She really didn’t know whether her breathtaking looks were a gift or a curse, and in truth, many times she was inclined to lean towards the latter, since so many times in her life that undeniable allure of hers has caused her nothing but pure suffering. However, alluring looks were also hiding a very useful darker side. All men were so easily manipulable when it came to beauty and she has certainly learned how to use that fact to her advantage. But that still changed nothing about the fact that she despised that revolting, shameless lust of theirs, the desire she has already experienced far too many times, one way or another. Perhaps among all the men she has ever encountered in her entire life only one was truly different…

,,But let’s not waste our time, this is not why you’re here,” she said after a while, turning around and taking a few steps, ,,I suppose you want your reward now that you’ve completed your mission. And you will get it, but first I want to make a few things clear. You’ve seen that Duman is here with me now, and so I suppose you’ve already figured out what it means. What it means for my brother…”

,,Yes, and speaking about that, I could really use some explanation about this entire situation. What on Earth is going on that…”

,,What you’ve seen here today will remain a secret,” she interrupted him, apparently completely unbothered by his demands, ,,you won’t tell a soul about it, do you understand? And before you say anything or try to protest, let me warn you. If I find out that this information has somehow reached anyone’s ears, especially my brother’s, I will not hesitate to do anything to make sure you’ll wish you were never born. I will turn your life into a living hell, Anagan. _We_ will.”

,,Well, that’s a really terrifying threat, Ariadne,” he chuckled slightly, taking a few steps towards her, ,,however, I’m afraid you’ve missed one thing. You can try frightening me by all the pain and suffering in this world, but can you truly make a man who doesn’t even want his own life anymore, fear anything? Tell me, what can you take from me when all I want is to end all of this anyway?”

,,Death,” she answered immediately and without any hesitation, ,,I will take death away from you. If what you want is to die, I will make sure that never happens. I will make sure you keep suffering here in this world every single day, that you keep living in so much pain and misery that eventually you’ll beg me on your knees to have mercy and kill you. But I won’t. I won’t have mercy on you, Anagan, because I never have mercy on those who betray me. Oh, and I suppose it’s needless to say that your pretty flower fairy will suffer the same fate… after all, that seems like an effective way to make you experience agony, isn’t it…?”

,,You wicked, twisted bitch, you will not harm a hair on that girl’s head, do you understand?!” he found himself shouting all of a sudden, inexplicable anger and fear taking over him immediately as she said those words. 

,,Not if you do as I say. I repeat, you won’t say anything about what you’ve seen here to anyone, and I promise that I won’t harm you or your girl in any way. But if you choose to do otherwise… you know what will happen. That’s not such a hard decision to make after all, is it…?”

No, in fact it wasn’t much of a decision at all. He’s done so much already just to save Flora’s life, he’s fooled and betrayed an innocent girl, he’s made himself suffer and dwell on regrets, he’s sacrificed them both for this, so how could he stop now? After all that he’s given up, should all of that be in vain? 

But he didn’t want to betray Ogron either. He didn’t want to be responsible for the things that might happen if his youngest brother stabbed his leader in the back. However, didn’t Duman have every right to do that? That heartless bastard has let him die without even batting an eyelash, for goodness sake… is that the reason why the shapeshifter has decided to join Ariadne in her search of revenge? Or was there something more to it…?

,,Alright, I’ll do as you say. You win, Ariadne,” he sighed after a while, ,,however I want you to answer one question in return. Will you?”

,,That depends on what you want to ask. You’re not exactly in the position to make demands, I’m afraid,” she said, a small, mocking smirk playing on her lips.

,,I want to know what you’re going to do to Roxy. Why do you need her so much?” he asked, knowing that he would probably get no answer, however he had to try at least. Even though he didn’t exactly know what for. It wasn’t like he was actually going to do anything about it, not even if she told him that she was going to torture her to death without any particular reason, or something similarly monstrous and twisted like that.

,,Do you only want to waste my time and try my patience now, Anagan?” she sighed and chuckled slightly afterwards, ,,just go. Before I change my mind about saving your precious little fairy.”

,,Then at least tell me about Duman. How did he survive and most importantly, why on Earth has he decided to turn his back on Ogron and help you instead? I’ve known him for years, and I know that he would never betray his family like that…”

,,Well, it seems like you didn’t know him well enough,” she answered, her face expression unreadable, ,,however that doesn’t really surprise me. You all called yourselves his brothers, but did any one of you ever bothered to truly try to understand him? To really get to know him and find out what was inside him during all those years? If you really did, then you wouldn’t need to ask me this question, because you would know the answer already. You say he wouldn’t betray his family… but wasn’t it his family in the first place that betrayed him? Was that bastard, my dear brother, even worthy of being called his family at all? Just think about it, Anagan, and you’ll be able to answer your question yourself.”

,,Duman tried to kill you! And you said it yourself that you don’t forgive people so easily. So I just really can’t understand the reason why…”

,,Of course you can’t understand!” she cut him off with an angry snap, ,,he told me more about you than you know, Anagan. I wouldn’t expect a man like you to understand. Someone who doesn’t have the faintest idea what love and affection mean… someone who is so selfish and rapes young innocent girls just to pleasure himself! Tell me, how could anyone like you understand? Your heart is made of ice and you will never know how it feels like to have it melted…”

What in the world was she saying…? Could it be that…? No, that idea was too unrealistic to be even close to the truth. But what other explanation could there be…? Was his youngest brother, that cruel, sadistic, wicked monster, and this equally heartless, cold, calculative sorceress… were they truly in love? And if that was the case, for how long have they been sharing this unimaginable, inexplicable mutual affection? For how many years, or perhaps even centuries, has Duman been involved with her and has been going behind their backs? And if he really loved her, why would he try to take her life back then…? There were so many questions he simply couldn’t answer, no matter how hard he tried to make sense out of all of this…

,,No, I don’t believe you…,” he heard his quiet whisper leaving his lips almost involuntarily, ,,this makes no sense. You’re lying… he doesn’t love you. And whatever games you’re trying to play with him, I’m warning you, stop before I’ll make you regret it!”

,,Oh, I’d like to see you try,” she responded with a sardonic laugh, ,,don’t believe me if you find blind denial easier, I don’t care. But remember this, if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay out of our business. Don’t you even try to find out what our plans are and what we want to achieve, you’ll never know that anyway. And I hope that you understand that trying to go against us is completely futile… so forget for good about the little fairy you brought us here today. She belongs to us now. The only thing you can really do is go, keep your mouth shut and leave the past in the past… and you know you will. You don’t want your fairy of nature to get hurt now, after you’ve gone to such great lengths just to save her… and now, if you excuse me, I have some matters I need to take care of. After all, I haven’t even welcomed our guest… so goodbye, Anagan. I believe that we’ve got nothing more to say to each other.”

An emotionless, almost threatening little smile appeared on her lips as she said those words and before he managed to respond, she has already brushed past him, making her way downstairs and leaving him alone in the dimly enlightened room. 

She was right, he supposed. He didn’t have a choice now, so there was nothing he could do but walk away, leave the mess he’s caused behind, and try to pretend it wasn’t his problem anymore and that his conscience was perfectly numb and nonexistent once again, just as it has always been. Yes, that was what he was going to do. Saying he had no choice, pretending once again it was that way. It didn’t matter to him that he knew one always has a choice, if one is willing to lose and make a sacrifice. Well, quite frankly, he wasn’t. He has already done more than enough, he has already saved one life… all he had to do now was to persuade himself that it gave him the right to wash his hands of one another. He knew that Roxy was going to hate him to the end of her days, but then how hard could it be to simply forget about one another girl he was in bed with…?

Perhaps it wouldn’t be too hard for him, however she certainly couldn’t say the same thing about herself. Roxy only desired two things in that moment. The first one was to take revenge on the man who not only broke her heart, but also betrayed her trust in such a heartless, monstrous way, and she would have done it in a heartbeat, blindly and without even thinking, if it wasn’t for her second wish… 

Her second wish that was nothing but to wake up from the nightmare she found herself in once again. Everything seemed so familiar about this situation, almost as if she had stepped back in time and was reliving her past in that very moment. Duman’s sadistic laughter as he was threatening her with things worse than death, the glow of twisted satisfaction in his golden eyes as he saw her fear, the crushing grip of his strong hands that forcefully threw her down on the cold floor of some dimly enlightened empty room… she knew that raw, animalistic fear inside her only too well. What was that savage monster going to do to her now…? What inhuman torture is he going to put her through this time…? Oh, she was too scared to even imagine…

,,Now, now, little fairy, there’s no need to cry like that” he mocked her with a cruel smirk playing on his lips as she instinctively tried to crawl away from him as far as possible right after her body hit the ground, ,,you know I enjoy it, but you don’t need to make me _that_ happy right from the beginning… we will get to spend a lot of time together, and I don’t want you to give me all the pleasures from your suffering right now…”

He couldn’t deny that he was enjoying himself more than he should have when he was teasing her like that and making her quiver with fear, he couldn’t deny that he was enjoying this twisted little game way too much.

And at the same time, he found himself hating the fact that now it was all just a game. Now he couldn’t even so much as scratch that whining bitch, and what was the fun in that? However, he knew why he was denying himself the pleasure that he could get from a heartless, cruel torture, just like the last time. 

This was all a part of their plan. Of Ariadne’s plan for now, in fact, however he trusted her completely and had no doubts that she knew what she was doing. And soon enough, he would find out about everything, she promised not to keep these secrets from him for a long time after all. But until then, she was very clear about what he had to do. And unfortunately, causing the girl any kind of real physical pain or suffering most definitely wasn’t a part of that.

_,,You have to terrify her to death, Duman, however you can’t harm her in any way. We need to have her scared, not hurt… it’s extremely important that you don’t do anything other than intimidating her…”_

,,What… what do you want from me…?” she asked suddenly in a quiet, shaky voice.

,,Oh, come on, you know what I want,” he answered, a cruel smirk spreading across his face as he took a few steps towards her, enjoying the fear written all over her face even more now that her back was already pressed against the wall and she had nowhere to escape, ,,I love seeing my prey like this, helpless, defeated, frightened… but I love it even more when it begs me for mercy.”

As he said those words he squatted down by her side, making her let out a scared whimper which was soon followed by quiet, desperate tears. 

,,So, how will you decide, little fairy…?” he kept mocking her as he grabbed her arm with one hand and her chin with the other one, ,,will you beg for my mercy or will you keep your stubborn pride and suffer even more? You know, perhaps you might even convince me to treat you a little nicer but it’s all up to you… I need to see that you really want it.”

She hated the fact that he was humiliating her in such a taunting, heartless way. However, what she hated even more was that she knew already what she was going to do… she didn’t have any other choice. 

,,I’m waiting for your answer… or should I take your silence as a _no_ to my generous offer? Alright then, it’s your choice. I wanted to make you scream in agony anyway. In, fact, why don’t we start right now…?”

His hand let go of her chin and she could see an ominously looking dark spell taking form inside his palm all of a sudden, shadows and back rays wrapping around his long fingers like snakes, making her want to scream in terror. She knew that kind of magic only too well. It was the exact same spell he used to almost torture her to death the last time.

When she just imagined what it would do to her, when she remembered all that horrid agony… no, she couldn’t let that happen. Not this time… especially not this time. Because this time she was hiding a secret. She was hiding a secret that she desperately wanted to keep from the entire world, even from herself. Oh, but did she have a choice now? She couldn’t afford to keep quiet any longer… sooner or later she would have to face it anyway… there was no way to escape that reality that has already trapped her in its claws…

,,Wait, please no, stop! I beg you, don’t do it…!”

,,Oh, I’m afraid it’s too late to ask for mercy now,” he laughed heartlessly, ,,you should have done it when I gave you the chance… because that chance it already gone, my dear.”

,,No, please, you don’t understand… you… you can’t harm me now, please…”

,,How pathetic,” he scoffed and tightened his grip on her hand, ,,give me one reason why not, you whiny bitch!”

_,,Say it… you can’t escape it anyway… say it and save your life, for goodness’ sake!”_

,,I am pregnant! I am pregnant with Ogron’s child!”


End file.
